Step back from bold idea

Victoria’s new city council rushed into the housing crisis — and learned a quick lesson about the complexities of interfering in the market. With housing unaffordable and unavailable for many in Greater Victoria, the region clearly has a problem. Council wasted no time in trying to fix that problem by proposing a requirement that all new condo projects include 10 to 15 per cent “affordable” units. Developers, however, also wasted no time. The Urban Development Institute warned that if the policy went ahead, it would kill development in the city.

Council backed off and told staff to negotiate an affordable component or cash-in-lieu feature in all future developments.

At the same time, staff would work on creating an inclusive housing policy.

Although the new plan is less draconian than the first iteration, the development institute says it still throws in so much uncertainty that many builders will tuck their blueprints back in a drawer and wait. With millions of dollars at stake, no one wants to take on any more risk than necessary.

Developers obviously have to be part of the solution to the housing crisis, but saddling them with regulations that threaten to make their projects financially unsustainable won’t solve anything.

As Mayor Lisa Helps said, everyone has to sit down and learn from each other about the economics of development and the realities of being a vulnerable renter. Councillors accepted her suggestion to create a working group to do that.

Bold action is needed, but there is a thin line between bold and foolhardy.