Despite concerted efforts to expand the level of safe and affordable child care in B.C., advocates estimate three-quarters of children in the province do not have access to licensed child care, and less than three per cent are receiving care for $10 a day.
Those numbers fall short of the provincial government’s commitment eight years ago to establish universal, affordable child care, according to the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC, which has renewed its 14-year-old campaign for $10-a-day child care in British Columbia amid long waitlists.
“There isn’t a client that has approached us who doesn’t have a whopper waitlist,” said Brian Wakelin, architect with Vancouver-based Public Architecture + Design Inc.
But delivery more daycare supply is challenged by B.C. real estate realities, including space scarcity, and limited or complicated funding options.
For example, while it may seem logical to include daycares in mixed-use developments, an increasingly prevalent development choice in the Lower Mainland, a separate financing and governance structure may be required for that daycare component. Daycare spaces also have unique needs, such as a rooftop playground and dedicated elevators, experts say.
“You’re trying to get ideally good sun access, good pickup and drop-off and things like that, and sometimes those just take a little bit more planning, a little bit more imagination and consideration with mixed-use developments,” Wakelin said.
He said daycares should ideally be located near employment and housing areas, and should be developed in bundles or clusters to accommodate a mix of age ranges.
Besides square footage, perhaps the biggest barrier to rapid growth is a high degree of regulation. Due to prescribed target sizes, staffing ratios, kitchen sizes and washroom sizes, the industry is “quite carefully controlled,” he said.
“Licensed child-care facilities in B.C. [are] taken very seriously. There are all sorts of standards,” Wakelin said.
“There’s actually a whole body that oversees licensing and child-care facilities,” which reviews daycare plans and buildings before, during and after construction, he said.
Things inspectors check for include sight lines for staff; no sharp edges, protrusions or hiding places; and access to adequate outdoor space. “Washroom design for child cares is like a whole industrial design exercise,” he added.
Provincial child-care efforts in detail
While all levels of government are involved in expanding child care, the province is the main player.
Since 2018, the province has funded the creation of 40,900 new licensed child-care spaces, with 24,900 of these spaces open and providing care. There are also 160,000 children in B.C. whose families are benefiting from the province’s child-care affordability programs, according to a statement from the Ministry of Education and Child Care.
The families of 16,000 children are paying $10 per day for that care, according to the province. As of May 2025, the families of 144,600 children are saving up to $900 a month through B.C.’s Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, with 96 per cent of eligible spaces participating and offering reduced rates.
Some families receive additional help. According to the province, the Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB) is further reducing fees for 34,900 children each month. Available to families earning $111,000 or less, ACCB can be combined with other programs to bring costs down to $0 for some families.
“Together, these affordability programs have reduced average child-care fees for families with children 12 years and under from $47 per day before fee reductions to approximately $19 per day across the province,” said the ministry’s statement.
The types of child care available in B.C. vary widely.
Some facilities are operated by institutions, non-profits and community centre associations. One example is the new Fulmer Family Centre for Childhood Studies at Capilano University, which was designed by Public Architecture + Design and includes an integrated 74-space daycare.
On the other end, small operators do not need a permit or licence if they are providing care for up to two children (or three or more children who are siblings) and there are no renovations made to the home.
In the middle are private facilities that combine supervision and education, such as Vancouver-based CEFA Systems Inc. and Nova Scotia-based Willowbrae Academy.
When it opens in Delta in late fall 2025, Willowbrae will operate the city’s largest daycare facility at 11,470 square feet and the capacity to care for 166 children. Preet Gill, CEO of the academy, said finding a suitable location was the hardest part.
“There’s very limited commercial space right now. You also want to be very particular what area you’re having this daycare in. Is it too busy? You don’t want it to be too dense or a city centre-type area. That’s not safe for children,” she said.
Financing can also be tough. Not all banks are willing to work with or lend enough money to borrowers who don’t have a track record of operating daycares, she said.
Fortunately for Gill, Willowbrae supports its franchisees in various ways. “Even in the construction phase, we do weekly meetings, even as of right now, so they’re very hands-on,” she said.
“They have a very tailored step-by-step program for the owners themselves.”
Harp Khela, president of Khela Real Estate Group, brokered the Willowbrae Academy deal in Delta. He said there are two big things B.C. municipalities can do to enable more daycares.
The first is to follow Delta’s example of pre-zoning all of its commercial zonings so that they are pre-approved for daycares, giving operators one less thing to worry about.
Second, cities should lower or eliminate community amenity contributions (CACs) for daycares, as is currently done to incentivize rental housing.
“If there’s no CACs being charged for that square footage, there’s that much more of an incentive for the developer to say, ‘Hey, let’s build more square footage and let’s add another floor … and let’s put a daycare there,’” he said.
On June 24, the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC re-launched its “$10aDay” campaign for universal, affordable, quality child care in B.C.
Participants say the campaign, which dates back to 2011, is being brought back because of “a failure by the province to deliver on its commitment.”
In 2017, then-premier John Horgan committed to “affordable universal child care.”
Gregson said B.C. has about 600,000 children aged 0-12 years, but just 160,000 licensed spaces, only 16,000 of which officially offer care for $10 per day.
That means as few as 2.7 per cent of B.C. children are receiving $10-a-day care.
“For a few years, there was significant progress in making affordable child care available to more B.C. families, and improving wages for educators. That progress has now stalled,” said Sharon Gregson, a coalition spokesperson.
With just three years remaining in the government’s 10-year plan, she said the province has “flatlined” provincial child-care funding in its last two budgets, with no new provincial funds committed to achieving the promise of quality, universal $10-a-day child care by 2028.
“If you’re lucky enough to get a licensed child-care space, you’d have to be, on top of that, a lottery winner,” she said.
