B.C. hikes homeowner grant as values soar
VANCOUVER • Relief is on the way for British Columbia homeowners concerned that their soaring home values will exclude them from an annual grant and hike property taxes.
Finance Minister Mike de Jong announced Tuesday the eligibility threshold for the province’s homeowner grant program will increase by a third this year, to include properties with an assessed value of up to $1.6 million.
The $ 400,000 jump from last year’s limit will ensure that 91 per cent of homes across the province are eligible to receive a basic grant of $ 570, he said, adding the program will apply to 83 per cent of the homes in Metro Vancouver.
The province’s l atest policy was in response to the hot real estate market in B. C.’s Lower Mainland, despite sales having tempered in recent months.
Property assessments have gone up by 50 per cent for some homeowners in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island.
“We are doing our part to help keep housing costs affordable for families,” de Jong said in a statement.
“The strength of the province’s economy and sound fiscal management have put us in a position to raise the threshold by such a large amount this year to help homeowners.”
De Jong told a news conference that the new program is aimed at people such as seniors who may have bought their home decades ago and seen a dramatic rise in the assessed value of their property and who would suffer if they no longer qualified for the homeowner grant.
“Those are the people, in those circumstances, that we are trying to address.”
However, Tom Davidoff, a housing expert at the University of British Columbia, criticized the change, calling it a politically motivated subsidy for the wealthy.
He said it would do more harm than good by artificially inflating real estate prices.
“You’re taking the money f r om people who don’ t own homes and giving it to people who do,” Davidoff said. “And when you give a gift to homeowners, you not only help ( the) homeowner with cash today, you increase the value of the homes.”