37 more municipalities find themselves on the province's housing naughty list
The province is revealing its housing cards, as 37 more municipalities have been identified as the next group that will be required to create housing targets in their communities to help combat the ongoing housing shortfall.
“They are trying to look at which communities have grown a lot and which communities have shied away from growth,” said Philip MacKellar, a volunteer with Homes For Living, a housing advocacy group.
MacKellar applauds last week’s provincial announcement naming the first 10 municipalities to be put on the list, including Victoria, Saanich and Oak Bay.
“The province is saying everybody needs to build more housing,” said MacKellar.
As for when the next 37 will be added, the province isn’t saying. Instead, it says 16 to 20 municipalities per fiscal year will be added to the list over the next three years.
“The timeline I think will be important,” said MacKellar. “Hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.”
Of the 37 municipalities, 16 Island communities have been targeted for the next round, including Nanaimo.
“I don’t know what more this city could possibly do,” said Leonard Krog, the mayor of Nanaimo.
Krog says his council has approved virtually every building application that has come before it over the past four years.
He says it’s time for the province to do its share of the heavy lifting.
“If the province wants more housing built, the private sector here has been doing a lot. They have to step up to the plate to build the housing for people who can’t afford it,” said Krog.
“Whatever we’re doing right now is not working,” said Luke Mari with Aryze Developments.
Aryze Developments focuses on multi-family dwellings. The development company is currently building a six-storey, 57-unit rental building in Quadra Village. From a developer standpoint, expanding the list is a good thing.
“Every environmental, social, economic outcome that we want in our province is connected to people being securely housed,” said Mari.
Ultimately, the goal is to remove municipal red tape -- tape that could stall a project for years.
“We had a four-storey rental building, 70 units that took five years to get approved, and our costs increased by $11 million during that period of time,” said Mari, adding the increase drove up the costs of rent in the end.
“Whether this makes a difference or not will really depend on the targets the province implements,” said MacKellar.
He says the policy could potentially have a huge impact on turning around B.C.’s housing shortfall if the targets are aggressive enough and properly enforced by the province.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW What Canada is doing about the toxic forever chemicals in drinking water
As the United States sets its first national limits on toxic forever chemicals in drinking water, researchers say Canada is lagging when it comes to regulations.
Arrest made, manslaughter charge pending in 2022 death of Calgary toddler
Calgary police have arrested a man and a charge is pending in connection with the death of a toddler in 2022.
Prince William returns to public duties after wife Kate's cancer revelation
Prince William will return to public duties on Thursday for the first time since his wife Kate revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Where did the gold go? Crime expert weighs in on unfolding Pearson Airport heist investigation
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Here's why experts don't think cloud seeding played a role in Dubai's downpour
Scientists say it's highly unlikely cloud seeding is responsible for the heavy rains that have caused flooding in the United Arab Emirates this month, and that climate change is the more likely culprit.