B.C. Premier David Eby says his housing policies are intended to result in a decline in home prices — an outcome new federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson said he does not wish to see, sparking reaction and debate nationwide.
On Wednesday, Roberston in Ottawa he did not wish to see home prices decline but rather build affordable housing, meaning non-market options such as co-ops, social housing and rental units pegged to local incomes.
In the following days, Robertson re-asserted he did not want to reduce “the price of a family’s current home, which for most Canadians, is their most valuable asset.”
On Thursday, BIV asked Eby at a press conference what he thought of the assertions made by Robertson, who was Vancouver’s mayor between fall 2008 and fall 2018, a time when home prices roughly tripled, according to the .
While Eby did not answer directly, he spoke to his government’s housing policies.
“At the provincial level, our focus is on bringing the cost of housing down; if we can build housing faster and cheaper using modular housing — I’m glad to see the prime minister focus on that — we think we can make housing more affordable through innovative work, like what we are doing with Musqueam, 麻豆社国产and Tsleil-Waututh nations,” said Eby, referencing a home ownership subsidy program announced last fall, which nonetheless has from professional and informal housing analysts.
Eby also said initiatives to build more rental housing and stricter regulations on short-term rentals in medium and large municipalities is helping to bring down rent prices.
BIV used its one follow-up question to ask: Do you think land prices need to decline in B.C. to create affordable housing?
Eby responded, in part: “We've taken some measures to try to create opportunities for multi-family development in sites across the province, with the express goal of bringing down the cost of land for building homes that families can afford.”
Eby referenced his to allow multiple units on one such property, as well as apartment buildings next to transit corridors.
“What we're trying to do is actually bring down the cost of land, and I think we are starting to see that in terms of availability of sites for development across the province,” said Eby of the initiative, which has also seen urban planning experts such as UBC professor Patrick Condon assert such .
Robertson’s comments have drawn immense debate and reaction, with critics such as University of Toronto assistant professor of economics Robert Gillezeau pointing out home price stability cannot be achieved if there is to be a massive scale-up of affordable housing construction, as suggested by Robertson.
“It's inconsistent with the message that the Liberal government went on, and it doesn't align with what anyone thinks housing policy should look like in the country.
“If you have a dramatic increase in supply for pretty much any style of home, it is going to have an impact on prices,” said Gillezeau.
“Either they're going to build homes at scale and prices are going to come down, holding all else (including population projections) equal, or they're going to build a handful, as has kind of been the norm, and then prices are going to be what they would otherwise be,” said Gillezeau.
“The B.C. government [has] sort of been the one government getting it right on its general approach to housing,” said Gillezeau.
In a May 14 made public via social media channels, B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon called on Robertson and the new Liberal government to tie federal funding and housing plans to annual immigration rates.
Kahlon also called on Ottawa to provide more funding via new housing and infrastructure agreements beyond April 2028.
