Burnaby is one of 38 communities across B.C. that will be benefactors of a six-figure grant that the provincial government says will help speed up the delivery of homes.
A total of $150,000 has been allocated for the City of Burnaby.
“Our province continues to grow with more people than ever before choosing to call B.C. home,” Anne Kang, Burnaby-Deer Lake MLA and Minister of Municipal Affairs, said in a news release.
“We’re continuing to support local governments’ ability to move forward with housing, and this grant funding will help new homes get built faster and more efficiently throughout the province for many years to come.”
Burnaby specifically will continue to streamline approval processes for simple and complex buildings, including developing business-process documentation and approvals guidance for staff and applicants, undertaking change management activities and building staff capacity.
“We’re leaving no stone unturned in our work to deliver more homes for people, faster,” Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon added.
“The Local Government Development Approvals Program was created so that local governments can improve the internal processes and development approvals, so that we can speed up the delivery of homes for people living and working in B.C.”
The Local Government Development Approvals program, administered through Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), was created to help local governments implement best practices and develop innovative ways to support non-profit housing organizations, developers and other stakeholders to decrease waiting times for the delivery of homes.
The province said it has provided roughly $4.4 million towards the 2024 intake.
“Local governments throughout B.C. have been implementing changes to streamline development-approvals processes to address community-building goals,” UBCM President Trish Mandewo stated.
“This funding will help catalyze that work and support local governments as they implement best practices related to permit approvals, inspections and more.”
