Act on housing crisis

All three levels of government need to address affordability

More and more people in Metro Vancouver are unable to afford a decent place to live. All three levels of government have failed in their duty to provide Canadians with affordable housing. The federal government abandoned the field 20 years ago and now confines its involvement to providing mortgage guarantees through CMHC for high-ratio home mortgages. This was a rather sad end to a world renowned program that built and managed low income housing for families and seniors throughout Canada.

The provincial government through its housing agency, B.C. Housing, has tried to fill the void but has only been partly successful as it has been required to work within severe budgetary constraints. In recent years, it has become innovative in working with non-profit groups and developers, but even so has been unable to provide decent housing to all those in need. The performance of cities has been sporadic. Cities can provide city-owned land at a nominal rent to non-profit organizations, waive development cost charges, rezone to higher densities and waive property taxes. The federal government can provide CMHC guaranteed mortgages for new projects and capital and operating funding. Since the federal government has no recent experience in this area it would be best for them to provide such funding through BC Housing.

The provincial government needs to increase funding for construction and operation of new projects while continuing efforts to become more efficient in day to day operations. The deterioration of our low income housing stock is becoming a crisis and will result in serious social problems unless action is taken.

GARTH M. EVANS Vancouver