B.C. Conservatives promise to build homes faster with less paperwork, more money for construction

The Conservative Party of British Columbia expanded their housing platform on Day 7 of the provincial election campaign race Friday.

Key promises included streamlining permit and building approvals, cutting construction costs, and amending municipal overreach, among other commitments.

Leader John Rustad says, If elected, his government would target rezoning and development permit approval within six months and building permits within three.

And if municipal governments fail to meet the permit approval deadlines, the BC Conservatives have stated they would “step in and issue them.”

“We will be working with city halls across the province to be able to meet these timelines,” Rustad said.

“There’s lots of work that needs to be done with zoning, so we’re going to be working with cities to do ‘proactive zoning,’ a process to make sure densification in our cities can be zoned in advance so that when people move into neighbourhoods, they know what to expect,” he added.

The party plans to work with BC Assessment to prevent current homeowners from facing higher tax bills due to future zoning changes.

Additionally, Rustad intends to introduce tax incentives for purpose-built rental housing, bringing back a modern version of the Multi-Unit Residential Building (MURB) program “to encourage long-term rental development.”

Rustad highlighted “unnecessary” red tape for certified and regulated builders as another factor slowing down construction.

“We will enact a Presumption of Compliance law so that municipal government and regulators must presume that professionals can perform peer-reviewed work in accordance with the rules,” he said.

The Conservative Party leader also vowed to repeal “hidden” constructions by removing the Step Code policy and Net-Zeo mandate, which he claims drives up the price to build middle-class housing by 30 to 40 per cent.

When it comes to “over-regulation by activist city planners,” Rustad wants to amend the Local Government Act to get rid of procedure that “kills housing projects.” Additionally, Rustad says he would help protect private property rights by establishing the BC Development Tribunal.

“To hold regulators and politicians to the rule of law and fair process,” he said.

On top of that, Rustad promised a forensic audit of BC Housing “to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent on genuinely low-income housing, not wasted on politically connected non-profits.”

Finally, Friday’s announcement included a significant financial pledge: $1 billion annually for sewer and water upgrades for municipalities “that allow viable small-scale multi-unit housing on at least 2/3rds of their residential land.”