Victoria housing advocates, developers say municipalities can do more to fix housing crisis

It’s being called a housing crisis. Some capital region families are facing homelessness as many can’t find a place to rent, this after being displaced from their current rental.

“No matter if you are a renter, buyer, it doesn’t matter. You’re struggling to find an affordable place to live or even a place to live, period,” said Philip MacKellar with the volunteer housing affordability advocacy group Homes for Living.

With very few rentals on the market, people are finding themselves in bidding wars for a unit. Many places are rented the first day they are on the market, meaning many don’t even get a chance to look at the unit in the first place.

“The lack of supply is I would say years, if not decades, in the making,” said MacKellar. “It’s really coming to head right now.”

He says municipalities should remove red tape and give developers a reason to build all types of units, including purpose-built rentals.

“The only way you get there is by having so much supply that potential investors start to wonder, 'Well could I rent this unit? And if so, could I get the price I wanted?” said MacKellar.

“We still need more tools to encourage the development of rental housing,” said Adam Cooper, board chair for the Urban Development Institute (UDI) Capital Region.

Cooper says municipalities can do a number of things to entice developers into building multi-unit rentals. Those measures could include a tax holiday where a municipality will hold the tax rate for the assessed value of the property for 10 years.

There is also the option to waive municipalities and building permit fees that are applied to every project.

“The truth is, we can’t keep up,” said Victoria Coun. Jeremy Loveday, chair of the Capital Regional Housing Corporation. CRD Housing has nearly 1,900 units of housing that are all currently rented.

By 2026, the CRD will have more than 2,600 units in its portfolio.

The City of Victoria is currently discussing three incentive programs that could entice developers into building more rental units in the city.

“Housing is such a basic need and fundamental human right,” said Loveday. “We need to be doing everything we can, with basically anyone who is willing to, to get more into the system.”