Anshu Arora LLM, MSc, PMP

In recent years, the "progressive YIMBY” (Yes, in my backyard) movement has embraced the idea that a surge in market-housing supply will magically lead to affordability. However, all housing supply is not created equal. Despite a construction boom building thousands of new market units of multi-family supply, affordable housing remains elusive for over a third of British Columbians. The economic theory is not producing the promised housing affordability.

As the modelling and analysis that Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon used to justify the BC NDP’s mass upzoning of single-family, middle-class neighbourhoods showsit will produce less than half the supply needed to meet the demand. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimates for B.C. to get housing affordability back to what we experienced in the early 2000s, we need to build 610,000 units more than would have been constructed. Tom Davidoff, one of the report’s authors, is cautious in his predictions of both the affordability achieved by the upzoning and the immediacy of the changes. The BC NDP’s approach is not an urgent solution to a housing affordability crisis but rather a short-term communication exercise, increasing the wealth of homeowners and hopes of renters leading into a provincial election.

We have an urgent housing affordability crisis and this is evidence of how inefficient it is to wait for the private sector to deliver housing affordability. The housing crisis is more localized for those experiencing core housing need. The core housing needs are the people in our communities whose housing is insecure, inadequate or unaffordable. In B.C., nearly 15 per cent of the population is paying more than 30 to 50 per cent of their annual income on housing. This is the most critical intervention point for the provincial government.

A 2021 Statistics Canada report shows the core housing need in Canada is 10.1 per cent, ranging from Quebec at six per cent to Nunavut at 32.9 per cent. B.C. is second worst at 13.4 per cent, followed closely by Northwest Territories (13.2 per cent) and Yukon (13.1 per cent). The next closest province is Ontario, at 12.1 per cent.

A Statistics Canada report published on Nov. 20, 2023, shows unsurprisingly the dramatic intergenerational advantage the adult children of homeowners born in the 1990s have over their peers whose parents weren’t homeowners. Additionally concerning is the findings that “adult children of multiple property owners were nearly three times more likely to be homeowners in 2021 than those whose parents were non-homeowners,” and B.C. has the lowest rate of homeownership of people born in the 1990s in the country.

New rules protecting workers from asbestos exposure — the leading cause of workplace-related deaths — come into effect for B.C. on New Year's Day. The WorkSafeBC rules, which are the first of their kind in Canada, require workers to go through special training before doing asbestos abatement related to buildings, including identifying, cleaning up or containing asbestos. They also require building owners to hire specially licensed companies if they need asbestos removed.

"Exposure to asbestos and the fatalities that result from those exposures continues to be the leading cause of fatalities for workers in British Columbia, accounting for about a third of all occupational deaths," said Mary Lovelace, director of credentialling at WorkSafeBC. Asbestos, commonly found in roofing materials, insulation, tiles and other building materials, is carcinogenic. When the fibrous material is disturbed, it releases fine particles into the air, which can lead to a variety of cancers when inhaled.

It was formally bannedin almost all products Canada in 2018; however, according to WorkSafeBC it was phased out of commonly used building materials in the 1990s. While many of the most serious asbestos exposures happened years or even decades ago, Lovelace says the new regulations ensure that work happening today won't lead to deaths and illnesses in the future.

Under the new requirement, employers in the field must be licensed by WorkSafeBC, and the workers they hire must be certified. Certification requires training that sometimes includes a practical exam. Licensed companies are now publicly listed on the WorkSafeBC website. Through the training courses, workers learn how to protect themselves and others from inhaling asbestos while working closely with the material.

It's a move that asbestos removal companies say will protect their workers and make competition more fair, but it comes with a price tag. Saeed Dana, owner and director of B.C. Green Demolition, said he's paid $2,000 each for 12 employees to do the training. Despite the cost, Dana says it will make competition more fair. "There are lots of companies, they don't follow the [safety] procedures," he said. In requiring all companies to follow a standard set of precautions, Saeed said that those who previously cut corners to provide a cheaper service are no longer able to undercut companies that operate safely.

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The province’s housing-density legislation unlocks zoning to create tens of thousands of new homes across Metro Vancouver, but that alone might not spur developers to build houses, at least not quickly. Bill 44, which allows for multi-unit construction on previously single-family lots, and Bill 47, which sets minimum standards for increased zoning around transit hubs, have been heralded in many circles as revolutionary changes in the face of B.C.’s housing crisis.

Zoning, however, is still just one element that developers need to consider before building new homes in an environment of high interest rates and soaring costs. “I think the central assumption in all this legislation is that municipalities and zoning are the (main) reasons for inaction” on building more housing, according to Andy Yan, urban planner and director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University. “And I think it’s problematic. It’s the housing system we’re talking about, not just one part of it.”

Yan said the objectives raise questions about whether B.C. will have the construction workforce needed to build the number of units desired and whether the goals are financially sustainable, considering prevailing inflation-fighting interest rates. A modelling exercise commissioned by the province to support its legislation assumes still extremely high prices would be required to entice the levels of development it wants, particularly in high-priced centres such as Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond.