Over the course of a decade, $12 billion was spent on building incentives, laws to stop speculation, and financial help for renters and owners
In an effort to build its way out of the housing crisis, the government of British Columbia has come up with a multibillion-dollar plan to build more homes as quickly as possible.
The so-called “Homes for People” plan invests $4 billion over three years and $12 billion over ten years. It includes incentives to build, laws to stop speculation, and money to help renters and homeowners.
This is on top of a plan that the NDP government put in place in 2018. It says that more than 74,000 homes have been built toward a promise of 114,000 units over a decade.
The latest plan focuses on building more townhomes, duplexes, and triplexes by changing the zoning, giving homeowners loans that they don’t have to pay back so they can build secondary suites and rent them out for less than the market rate, and building thousands of homes for renters, Indigenous people, and students.
More homes will be built near public transportation, and the government will start a plan to build cheap homes on public land.
Flipping tax to be introduce
The government says it will put in place a flipping tax to stop people from speculating, increase enforcement of short-term rentals, and streamline and modernize the permit process to cut costs and speed up approvals.
In a news release, the government said, “Actions in the plan also aim to build a housing market that puts people before profits. These include measures to crack down on speculators and profiteers and get the proceeds of crime out of the real estate market.”
A big part of the plan is to help people who are homeless find homes. One idea is to add 3,900 new supportive housing units and 240 complex care spaces.
It will also have teams that can respond quickly to camps and help people who are living outside.
Some cities and towns in British Columbia still don’t let people have secondary suites, but the government says that will change.
“Later this year, legislation will be introduced to make secondary suites legal in every community in the province,” the release said.
The government says that beginning in early 2024, homeowners will be able to get a loan that they don’t have to pay back, up to a maximum of $40,000, to help pay for home improvements.
Watch | CBC News looked at who is buying up property in February: