CHANGE ACCOMPANIED BY OPPORTUNITY
A new administration will be governing BC, and change is always accompanied by opportunity. British Columbians have identified housing affordability as the biggest challenge in a province where prices are more than $150,000 over the national average. Solutions are not rocket-science, but do require political will. They include: • Enable the minister to amalgamate municipalities when in the best interests of proper regional planning for housing, transportation, and water and sewer infrastructure; • Establish actionable affordable housing targets for
all communities; • Establish efficient development and permit timelines, and affordable fees enforced by the province and reviewed periodically; • Require fact-based, scientific third-party analysis of environmental considerations (EDPA) in urban containment areas; • Create enforceable Best Practices for Community
Association Land Use Committees; • Require new building regs to meet cost/benefit tests, proven practice and education standards before approval; • Establish a single building code, enforced by the province, and improved periodically rather than the Step Code’s array of options chosen by 160 municipalities risking unintended consequences and undermining consumer protection; • Remove multiple Property Transfer Tax charges
on the development of a single home; • Create a renovation tax credit encouraging energy efficiency retrofits, asbestos mitigation and seismic upgrades in a region where a catastrophic earthquake is a certainty. These are just a few common-sense suggestions. What has been lacking in BC for decades is the political will to require responsible regional planning and land use, efficient and affordable development processes, and a provincially enforced building code standard. However, another governance change has arrived, always accompanied by opportunity.