By Jarryd Jäger

Copyright westernstandard

A coalition of politicians and industry representatives led by the British Columbia Real Estate Association has called on the BC government to establish a permanent housing policy roundtable.The move comes amid growing frustration from municipal leaders, developers, and everyday British Columbians over the government’s handling of the housing crisis.”The dream of stable home ownership is drifting further out of reach for many,” BCREA Senior VP for Government Relations Trevor Hargreaves said during a press conference in Vancouver on Monday. “That’s why the creation of a permanent housing roundtable is not just timely — it’s essential.”He argued that housing policy “cannot be built in isolation,” and “must reflect the lived realities of buyers, sellers, renters, landlords, municipalities, and developers.””We’ve seen what happens when decisions are made without consultation,” Hargreaves lamented. “We believe in doing better. Crisis requires adequate resources, adequate expertise, and adequate willingness to listen to get things right.”He noted that previous calls to the government largely fell on deaf ears, with former housing minister Ravi Kahlon deeming the idea of having so many different voices in the same room to be inefficient.At the recent Union of BC Municipalities convention in Victoria, however, local leaders passed a resolution calling on the BC NDP to finally take seriously the prospect of setting up a roundtable..Joining Hargreaves were Aboriginal Housing Management Association CEO Margaret Pfoh, Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association BC President Rebecca Casey, Quadra Homes VP Shawn Bouchard, and Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West.They all agreed that because the housing crisis is multi-faceted, the government must hear from a diverse range of representatives to properly understand the needs of particular groups and nuances of the situation..”This has unfolded over a very long time before the provincial government responded,” West said of the housing crisis, “but when they did, they chose a particular path that opened the floodgates with an avalanche of new legislation, and the way it’s being done has create real issues, and in many ways, created a lot of chaos.”He said that cities are often left “scrambling” to keep up with new legislation handed down unilaterally by Victoria, which then results in “delays, confusion, and unintended consequences for both affordability and supply.””Any time you’re trying to solve complex issues, you have to have answers that work on the ground and in reality, not just in a university classroom or in theory,” West continued. “You get those answers by talking to people who are in the trenches, dealing with this every single day.”He added that the roundtable would ensure policies are “practical, collaborative, coordinated, and effective.”.Bouchard argued that policies set forth by the government have unnecessarily jacked up the price of both building and buying new homes, thereby pricing many out of the market. He cited BC’s Step Code — the policies that dictate targets for energy efficiency and carbon reduction in new buildings — as an example..He explained that when Step Code 4 eclipses Step Code 3, it will add $25,000 to the cost of a home. To put that in perspective, the amount saved on energy would not reach that amount for 114 years.Bouchard suggested that what BC has is not a supply crisis, but an unafordability crisis, noting that in Surrey alone, there are 45,000 units at third reading that haven’t moved forward because there aren’t enough people able to pre-purchase them and secure financing for developers to complete the process.Casey drew attention to regulations related to mortgage qualification, noting that while many are necessary to protect consumers, there should be “room for change as the needs change.”When it came to indigenous-focused housing, Pfoh said the situation was just as bleak. She pointed out that many providers are “near-bankrupt,” and that because budgets have not kept pace with the economy, she has providers that are “closing more units than they’re actually opening.”.Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday – Friday). Your patience is appreciated.