British Columbians won’t have to wait long for the province’s biggest single initiative aimed at tackling the housing crisis.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the final details of the multi-billion dollar BC Builds project will be unveiled in the “very, very near future,” but did not give an exact date.
The program aims to build affordable housing on government-owned land, and is geared towards what the province describes as middle-income households.
“We're going to need the private sector … and the not-for-profit sector to come and build because we see with interest rates going up, a lot of projects are considerably on hold. We see capacity in the system that we believe we can capture,” Kahlon said during an event hosted by the B.C. chapter of the non-profit Urban Land Institute.
New legislation passed in November is meant to address transit-oriented development, shelter spaces, development fees, taxes and levies as well as building density on single-family lots.
The BC Builds program was not the only housing initiative the minister hinted at during his fireside chat with Concert Properties Ltd. CEO Christine Bergeron.
The next 10 municipalities on the government’s so-called naughty list of communities that need to build more homes will be unveiled within the next month, he said in an interview.
That will bring 20 municipalities under the umbrella of the Housing Supply Act, which allows the province to set housing targets for local governments over the next five years.
In addition to number of units, each municipality will be given a list of housing target guidelines.
