B.C. housing plans include end to rental restrictions, more provincial enforcement

B.C. has announced new legislation to help address the ongoing housing affordability crisis. This includes setting housing targets for communities that are lagging or in greatest need, as well as taking immediate steps to abolish rental restrictions many stratas have in place.

New Premier David Eby says the Housing Supply Act, which, if passed, is expected to help increase housing supply by “working with municipalities with the greatest need and highest projected growth to establish housing targets.”

“We are seeing a remarkable thing here in British Columbia, which is that people are coming to this province in record numbers. We had more than 100,000 people move to B.C. last year, and our housing supply is not keeping up,” Eby said Monday.

“British Columbians, rightly, have a vision of a province where when you’re ready to, you move out of your parents’ house and start your life, that you can start your family, that you can move from renting, potentially, to even owning your own place, moving up the property ladder, and it’s a vision that feels out of reach for far too many British Columbians because of the pressure of the housing market right now.”

Announced Monday, the legislation would build on existing municipal requirements to create what the province describes as Housing Needs Reports, to be done every five years.

“Through this legislation, the Ministry Responsible for Housing will now review Housing Needs Reports and determine if a housing target needs to be set in a municipality,” the B.C. government says, adding the proposed act aligns with similar legislation in California and the U.K.

While the province doesn’t say which communities the targets would apply to, it says they will be set for an expected eight to 10 municipalities to start. Work has already begun to identify municipalities – so far not naming names of the communities needing the most work, but the cities of Victoria, Langford and Kelowna are cited as municipalities working well to increase housing supply.

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When it comes to setting targets, the province says it will work with local governments to do so “through a consultative approach.” While the target will be set by the provincial government, it will be up to the municipalities to decide how they achieve them.

A municipality chosen to meet targets will have to submit progress reports. If it’s found the targets are not met or that actions are not being taken, the province says “the minister can issue a directive or recommend compliance measures.”

It’s unclear if there will be any legal challenges related to these changes.

“I would be really disappointed if the reaction were anything other than what I imagine everyone’s reaction is to the housing crisis, which is we need to build housing, urgently, for British Columbians,” Eby said.

In an effort to help move things along, the government says it’s helping communities speed up local approvals processes, while “accelerating provincial approvals.”

Ending B.C. rental restrictions

The province says it is introducing amendments to the Strata Property Act, which will see the removal of “all rental restrictions from all strata-operated buildings.”

“By removing rental restrictions from all strata buildings, there will be more condos/townhouses available to rent – turning thousands of empty units into homes for renters,” the government says.

Ending rental restrictions, such as caps on the number of rentals allowed in buildings, in B.C. was a recommendation of the Rental Housing Task Force.

The province is also looking to make changes to the Strata Property Act to remove “discriminatory age limits in B.C. strata buildings,” adding 55+ buildings will not be affected “to preserve seniors’ communities.”

“It is simply unacceptable that a British Columbian who is searching Craigslist for a place to rent can’t find a home and somebody who owns a condo is not permitted to rent that home to that individual. It is equally unacceptable that a young couple that lives in a condo and decides to start a family has to start searching for a new home because that strata has a rule that everybody who lives in the unit has to be 19 years of age or older,” Eby said.

“Responding to the housing crisis means making sure that housing units that are available to be rented are actually rented and provide housing to British Columbians. Responding to the housing crisis means not forcing people to move simply because they decide to start a family.”

B.C. seniors advocate, Isobel Mackenzie, says the province’s plan to do away with strata age limits is “good news” for seniors who want to live in buildings with other seniors.

“There will be some buildings that will choose now to become 55+ buildings that weren’t when they were able to impose rental restrictions,” she told CityNews. “I think that’s a good balance that’s been struck here from a senior’s perspective is that if I want to have a building where I am comfortable, where I know my neighbours, where we’ve created sort of a seniors-friendly community, you can still have that because even though you have to allow people to rent, you can restrict it to people who are 55 years of age and older.”

In total, Eby says the removal of rental restrictions is expected to affect about 300,000 units.

“The best number that we can offer is that we know that 2,900 people, 2,900 units, there were applications under the Speculation and Vacancy Tax saying, ‘look, I haven’t rented out my condo, but I can’t,'” the premier explained.

“Our data from the Speculation and Vacancy Tax indicates that in Speculation and Vacancy Tax areas there are 2,900 units where owners made an application for an exemption from the tax because they were not permitted to rent their vacant home. We need to bring those homes onto the market for British Columbians to rent.”

Some restrictions, such as bans on short-term rentals, will continue to be allowed. Eby says additional restrictions around short-term rentals, like Airbnb, will be announced in the coming months.

Should they pass, the changes to the Strata Property Act will immediately come into effect. The Housing Supply Act, if passed, would come into effect mid next year.

B.C. housing announcement latest in series of measures announced by Eby

Eby was sworn in as premier on Friday, announcing two affordability credits the same day.

The first is a one-time cost of living credit on BC Hydro bills, while the second is a new BC Affordability Credit in January, aimed at helping people offset some expenses.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, he also announced measures to address public safety concerns in the province, outlining the Safer Communities Action Plan (SCAP), which he says will include “concrete” steps at the provincial level to make communities safer through enforcement and intervention services.

SCAP includes plans to bring in more mental health response teams, and increase focus on tackling repeat offenders through “coordinated response teams.”

“Their mission is to prevent violent crime before it happens and when it does happen, to make sure that violent offenders wait for trial in custody and not in our community, putting people at risk,” the premier said.

-With files from Kareem Gouda, Greg Bowman and The Canadian Press