B.C. housing program scrapped as NDP prepares for carbon tax losses

The BC NDP is starting to make cuts as it braces for looming financial losses from an unstable trade relationship with the U.S. and axing the provincial carbon tax, which is set to vanish within weeks.

One of the first casualties is the secondary-suite incentive program.

The pilot program, which launched last May, offered homeowners up to $40,000 in forgivable loans to build secondary suites on their property as long as they rented them out at below-market value for at least five years.

Originally, intended to be a three-year pilot, the province announced Wednesday that British Columbians now have only until March 30 to apply.

“It feels like a bit of a knee-jerk reaction with a very short deadline for anybody who was looking forward to utilizing the program,” said Tim Hill, a RE/MAX real estate advisor based in New Westminster.

“This was a great benefit that did create some excitement out there… We need more places for people to live and this will short-change that a bit,” Hill added.

The province says BC Housing will continue processing applications already in progress, with approved homeowners still able to receive funding for their projects.

Funds that would have gone to new applicants will now be redirected to other provincial housing initiatives.

Homeowners interested in similar programs can apply for the Canada Secondary-Suite Loan Program, which offers up to $80,000 in low-interest loans to support secondary suite development.

The move comes as the BC NDP government figures out ways to address the massive budget gap that will be left by the elimination of the carbon tax.

B.C.’s 2025 budget projected the consumer carbon price would generate approximately $2.8 billion in revenue, with about $1 billion of that being returned to the public through the Climate Action Tax Credit.

“You’re looking at a budget that already has a large deficit, and this is just going to increase it more,” said Tsur Sommerville, a professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business.

Sommerville also argues that the NDP should have been more transparent about the province’s financial situation in the lead-up to deciding to axe the carbon tax, which had been anticipated for months.

“It would’ve been more responsible to at least give an indicator of what a projected policy change, that we all knew was going to happen, was going to do.”

Premier David Eby has insisted that “big polluters” will still be on the hook for the carbon tax, but experts point out that growing global trade pressures could complicate things.