Vaughn Palmer: BC government may bring down legislative hammer if housing red tape isn’t cut

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VICTORIA — When Victoria city council voted last week to speed up approval of non-market and affordable housing projects, Housing Minister David Eby fast-tracked his praise.

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“A special thank you and recognition are due to Victoria’s mayor and city council for taking this important and meaningful step to accelerate approvals of affordable housing,” declared Eby, just after council’s unanimous vote Thursday evening. “Cities taking steps to speed up approvals for new public and affordable housing makes it easier, cheaper and faster for the province and the federal government to respond to the housing crisis by building the homes that are desperately needed.

“Having a partner at the municipal level who facilitates quick approvals helps get doors open sooner for people living in the streets and parks, and also for people who simply need a more affordable place closer to work.”

Eby’s endorsement was timely enough to be included in the news release Thursday, where the city announced Victoria had become “the first municipality in BC to approve a citywide accelerated process for qualifying affordable housing projects.”

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The change means housing proposals from non-profits, co-ops or government will no longer have to undergo rezoning or public hearings, providing they’re consistent with Victoria’s official community plan.

As well, “developments that meet all the necessary criteria will be permitted to build up to the maximum density in the community plan.”

The shift is expected to shave nine months off the approval timeline for a typical project, according to the city. The expedited approval process will reduce costs by $2 million on a typical project, says the city, citing a Statistics Canada report that has inflation running at one per cent per month on residential construction.

Taking a victory lap after the council decision was Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps.

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“The change we made tonight will get more affordable homes built more quickly for families, workers and people who need it the most,” said Helps, who plans to retire in October after eight years as mayor. “Council is taking a bold step to remove the uncertainly around affordable housing decisions and cut red tape.”

Fully in agreement was Jill Atkey, CEO of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association:

“There are three key factors that put affordable housing projects at risk once they enter the municipal approvals’ process: time, cost and uncertainty of approval. Victoria city council removed all three of those barriers and now shines as an example to other municipalities serious about affordable housing in their communities.”

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The implications of Victoria’s decision go well beyond the boundaries of the provincial capital, hence Eby’s interest. With BC accepting 100,000 new residents last year, Eby says it’s a given that the province must increase the supply of all types of needed housing. He’s been pressing local governments to expedite approvals of housing development.

Eby, who is also the attorney-general, is preparing legislation for introduction at the fall session to allow the province to override local authority if necessary.

He’s also been playing a solo version of good cop bad cop, praising municipalities like Victoria that get moving on approvals and criticizing those that are stalling. One example of the latter happened last month, when Victoria’s neighbour, the District of Oak Bay, rejected a 14-unit project for the second time. The developer had been working on the project for nine years.

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The narrow 4-3 turndown came after nay-side quibbling about pedestrian safety, noise pollution, visual impact (the four-storey building would be four meters higher than an adjacent building) and the risk posed to a single tree.

“It’s concerning when this is a proposal … that was consistent with Oak Bay’s official community plan,” Eby told host Mike Smyth during an interview on radio station CKNW. “It was in the area that Oak Bay had set aside for this kind of housing, and it didn’t get to go to even the public hearing. This developer wanted it to go to a public hearing so that people could weigh in.

“It’s easy to single out Oak Bay, ” he added, doing just that, “where even secondary suites, basement suites aren’t currently legal, but it’s not Oak Bay only.”

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But Oak Bay does set a bad example for housing starts in the provincial capital region.

Victoria started 1,204 homes last year, according to a recent story by Andrew Duffy in The Victoria Times Colonist: “Oak Bay, by comparison, started 27.”

The hands down champion for housing starts in the region is Langford, where construction got underway on 1,741 new homes last year. Langford — possessed of much more developable land than Oak Bay — is one of the fastest growing communities in BC

Jack Knox, columnist for The Times Colonist, once joked that Langford’s motto was: “Building permits in 30 minutes or your business license is free.”

He also suggested that the Oak Bay motto was “tradesmen’s entrance in the rear.”

Langford’s best-known resident is Premier John Horgan, who says other municipalities could learn a thing or two about expedited housing approvals from his hometown.

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The premier’s current line, like that of his housing minister, is that the province prefers to work with municipalities to expedite housing approvals.

But if more local governments don’t follow the example set by Victoria last week, I expect that come the fall session of the legislature, the Horgan government will be ready to drop Eby’s legislative hammer.

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