WEEKEND EXTRA
He supports the collection of data, which has been suggested by several parties, to know how many high-end homes have been purchased by foreigners and are sitting empty, and what role (if any) this may play in the current housing crisis.
Several countries have introduced policies aimed at curbing foreign ownership: U.K. homeowners from overseas now need to pay capital-gains tax when they sell their properties; Australia limits what foreign investors can buy, restricting them to newly built properties.
The most recent data from Australia, Muir said, shows non-residents owned a relatively small amount of the housing stock, but that number had increased (not decreased) since the new penalties were put in place.
“The success of that I’m not sure of,” Muir said. “How much tax would you have to charge, or how much additional surcharge would you have to create, for foreign investment in order to discourage those who are already exceedingly wealthy and are buying homes in the multi-millions of dollars? That’s the real issue on the policy side.”
The Sun spoke to candidates from four different parties running in areas that saw sharp increases in the price of single-detached homes in recent months — East Vancouver, North Delta, South Surrey and North Vancouver — about what their platforms can do to help voters.
Jonathan Wilkinson, the Liberal candidate in North Vancouver, says he hears two different themes about housing affordability: Current homeowners don’t want government lowering the equity they have accumulated, and young people are looking for a break to buy into a very expensive market.
“If you walk into a coffee shop in North Vancouver, it is likely the number 1 topic you will hear people talking about,” added Wilkinson, a Rhodes scholar, who is running against Conservative incumbent Andrew Saxton.
Like the NDP and Greens, his party backs incentives to support rental housing and co-ops. But Wilkinson argues the Liberals will do more — actually construct new affordable housing, financed by running deficits.
It is the only solution, he believes, to the quandary he faced while CEO of a high-tech firm. The young employees he hired quit when they got married, saying they had to leave Metro Vancouver to find affordable housing.
“We need to solve that problem,” he said.
But we can’t trust the Liberals when it comes to affordable housing, says Jenny Kwan, a longtime NDP MLA who is now running for the federal party in the left-leaning riding of Vancouver East.
“(The NDP) have been advocating ... for a national affordable housing strategy since the day it was cancelled back in 1993. And it was the federal Liberals who cancelled it.”
Will the Liberals eventually abandon their renewed commitment to affordable housing after running three years of deficits and then promising to balance the budget, she asked?
“Fundamentally, we (believe) that affordable housing is a right and should not be a privilege,” Kwan said.
Larry Colero, who is running for the Greens in upper-middle-class South Surrey-White Rock against star Tory candidate Dianne Watts, said families must be helped so adult children can afford to live in the same neighbourhoods as their parents.
“Families are being split, and there has to be some way for them to stay in the community,” he said. “What we are seeing here is a market failure that is being exacerbated by immigration rules.”
He said the Green party would like to eliminate the Conservatives’ Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Pilot Program, alleging it allows foreign investors to purchase Canadian properties, which then drives up housing prices.
Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who is running for reelection in Delta, said housing has not been a topic she has heard from voters in her riding because, she believes, there are more affordable homes there.
While the Conservative platform is silent on rental buildings and co-ops, it instead aims to create the economic climate — through lower taxes, creating jobs, and offering tax credits and other incentives for new homebuyers — to make it possible for Canadians to afford real estate.
“All of this helps people achieve their dreams, including home ownership,” Findlay said.
When asked, though, about what part of Conservative policies helps lower-income families find a safe, affordable place to live, she cited the party’s investment in a social housing program for people with drug addiction and mental illness.
“We have a Housing First strategy ... that helps people of lower income, but more specifically people who have other challenges like mental illness. That’s all part of our overall strategy to help Canadians.”
So, should B. C. voters pay attention to what politicians say about housing in the last week of the campaign? Yes, says UBC’s Gurstein.
“We are the only country in the G8 that doesn’t have a national housing strategy.”
Wear ethe only country in the G 8 that doesn’ t have a national housing strategy.
PENNY GURSTEIN DIRECTOR, UBC SCHOOL OF COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING