B.C. greenlights pre-fabricated housing design to speed up home building, but experts say it’s not enough

B.C. has approved prefabricated housing designs so developers don’t have to wait for a lengthy approval process before they can start building, but some housing experts say this isn’t enough.

The provincial government says the designs apply to small-scale, multi-unit housing types and are free for the public to use. As well, all the designs comply with B.C. building codes and are customizable for different lot sizes and configurations.

“Most of the designs are based on ‘building blocks’ that can be mixed and matched, to add features such as a garage or bedrooms, and stacked up to three storeys high,” the government said in a news release Thursday.

“They include concepts for duplex, triplex, quadplex, and townhouse designs.”

Bryn Davidson is the co-owner of Lanefab, a design and build company that creates custom homes.

He says developers still face a lot of hurdles when creating pre-approved designs, like the fact that each municipality has different zoning rules and regulations.

“I’ve been building laneway houses for 15 years, and every single city that you go to has different rules,” he said.

“Some of these municipalities pile on these development permits that require you to jump through all sorts of hoops.”

For example, a standard design in Vancouver might have to be modified in Burnaby and not allowed at all in North Vancouver.

Peter Waldkirch with Abundant Housing Vancouver says this latest move is a good step by the province, but he says the province needs to consider all residential building types.

“We need standardized designs and zoning for apartment buildings so that we can build the homes we need,” Waldkirch said.

“We know that in Vancouver, housing demand was more than just multiplexes,” he said.

The B.C. government says there are also designs for accessory dwelling units, such as laneway homes.