Federal government’s Surrey, Burnaby housing funding announcement postponed

The federal government has abruptly postponed a funding announcement that would have given more money to build housing in Surrey and Burnaby.

On Tuesday, federal housing minister Sean Fraser said the announcement of the Housing Acceleration Fund was cancelled because of a proposed development cost charge increase by the Metro Vancouver Regional District — which had two board members involved in the announcement.

“We’re studying the impacts of this proposal and I hope we have more to say soon,” the minister posted on X.

Fraser didn’t specify which communities were involved; however, the mayors of Burnaby and Surrey were scheduled to be on hand for the announcement.

Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, who is also the regional district’s housing committee chair, tells CityNews the proposed charge increases are needed to pay for new infrastructure that can better accommodate the region’s growing population.

“Metro Vancouver’s got a lot of expenses coming in, of infrastructure that has to be built to accommodate the new housing that everyone keeps saying it needs, and Metro Vancouver has to find a way to pay for that,” he said.

“Costs for everyone keep going up, including for Metro Vancouver, so we have to find a way to pay for it.”

The changes proposed by the regional district would see charges associated with new developments to help pay for infrastructure — such as water treatment and wastewater facilities — increased incrementally over the next five years.

Currently, such fees cover all but 17.5 per cent of the construction of new wastewater facilities — anywhere between $2,000 and $3,300 depending on whether it’s a residential, townhouse, or apartment development.

Similar fees are also charged to help pay for water going to the new developments, currently accounting for about 50 per cent of the cost of water treatment.

The district is proposing these charges be gradually increased from 2025 to 2027, covering more of the total cost of the infrastructure projects. There is also a proposed fee to help pay for the acquisition of new land for regional parks.


Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley at a housing announcement on Sept. 13, 2023.

Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley at a housing announcement on Sept. 13, 2023. (CityNews Image)


Hurley says he was not told how much money Burnaby was set to receive through the Housing Acceleration Fund, but now worries the city may not see any federal money.

“It’ll be very disappointing if we can’t have the funding that we applied for and went through all the right channels to apply for and thought we were going to receive the funding today. And for whatever reason, the minister has chosen at this point to put it on hold,” he said.

The mayor says he feels like a “punching ball” between the regional district and the federal government.

“Everyone seems to think that somehow we can raise the funds to pay for those out of nowhere, but it’s real money when it comes to big projects like those,” he said.

“I don’t know if you could almost call this being held ransom or what it is, but it’s quite a turn.”

B.C. housing minister Ravi Kahlon was asked about the dispute in an unrelated media conference, saying he’s previously brought up similar concerns to the regional district about the proposed development charge increases, but acknowledged the importance and challenge of paying for new infrastructure.

With files from Srushti Gangdev

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