Thursday, May 18, 2023

At a glance (2 minute read)

  • Greater Vancouver REALTORS® lobbied MLAs in Victoria for housing reform during the BC Real Estate Association's Government Liaison Conference.
  • The main concerns raised were the need for affordable missing middle housing options and the establishment of a permanent housing roundtable in British Columbia.
  • They proposed province-wide missing middle housing zoning to increase housing supply and advocated for a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to develop consistent housing policies and address obstacles to housing attainability.

The need for affordable missing middle housing and for a permanent housing roundtable topped the list of concerns Greater Vancouver REALTORS® took to Victoria on May 7-9, 2023.

They advocated for policies favourable to property buyers, sellers and owners, meeting with many of the 32 MLAs in the Board’s region as part of BC Real Estate Association’s annual Government Liaison Conference.

Province-wide, 90 Realtors from eight real estate boards shared their expertise on two important issues. 

Issue 1: More missing middle housing options for British Columbians

Single detached zoning currently makes up 60-75 per cent of residential zoning across the province, and assigns the entire cost of developing one lot to just one dwelling unit. When land is zoned for density in specific neighbourhoods, the land price increases, creating artificial shortages.

Solution: Apply province-wide missing middle housing zoning. Building between four to six units on a single-family lot will reduce the size and the cost of each dwelling unit. Densified housing can be built far more quickly compared to larger apartment buildings, and is developed without the costly and time-consuming land assembly process, ensuring a good supply of available, developable lots. This also prevents the bidding wars that occur when lots are rezoned in specific neighbourhood areas.

Recommendation: Apply zoning legislation province wide to all single-detached lots, or in a given region.

Issue 2: Permanent British Columbia housing roundtable

The current process of developing new housing policy is often inconsistent and ad hoc. There’s need for a more collaborative, multi-stakeholder process to identify obstacles to housing attainability and factors limiting supply. The lack of a coordinated approach has reduced the intended benefits of housing policy and produced unintended negative consequences.

Solution: A housing roundtable comprising a wide range of representatives from the real estate, building, and construction sectors will provide the government with key insights into solutions and ways to mitigate unintended consequences.

Recommendation: Create a permanent housing roundtable within the newly created ministry of housing.

Participants should include federal, provincial, municipal, and Indigenous government authorities, and stakeholders such as Realtors, builders, boards of trade, non-market housing organizations, the rental sector, and civil society organizations.

L-R: Tyler Hartling (GRC); Karin Kirkpatrick, MLA West Vancouver; Ray Harris (GRC chair);Teresa Wat, MLA Richmond Centre; Taylor Biggar (GRC); Jordan Sturdy, MLA West Vancouver Sea-to-Sky; Lisa MacIntosh (GRC); Ian Paton, MLA Delta South; Elenore Sturko, MLA Surrey South; Harriet Permut, REBGV Director of Government Relations.
If you have questions about these issues or recommendations, please contact Harriet Permut, director of government relations at hpermut@rebgv.org. 

Read BCREA’s submissions