The 2024 BC Election is upon us, and housing is top of mind for many voters, whether they’re looking to buy, sell, rent, or just watching the market to keep an eye on what’s going on.
No matter which party wins this election, they’ll have a mandate to address housing affordability, availability, and accessibility, and they’ll be called upon to make decisions that will have lasting effects.
Here are the top three housing issues I’m keeping an eye on this election.
1. Tax Reform
The cost of housing in BC has put homeownership out of reach for a large percentage of the population. As prices have increased, so has the burden of taxes, like the property transfer tax, levied on families trying to buy a home.
The next government of BC needs to review and revise the sum total of taxes applied to the development and transfer of housing.
2. Slowing Immigration
One unintended consequence of the federal government reining in immigration is that the province of BC will have fewer tradespeople to help build housing, right at a time when we need more tradespeople than ever.
The next BC government will need to incentivize the training of the next generation of skilled trades, or else housing targets will remain unmet.
And finally …
3. The Foreign Buyers Ban
The federal Foreign Buyers Ban did not have the cooling effect on housing prices it was supposed to.
Meanwhile, it had a negative effect on multiple BC ski hills, who were unintentionally included in the ban due to their proximity to a large municipality, and who count on foreign tourism and investment and have been hit hard in recent years.
The next BC government needs to work with the federal government to get exemptions for these cornerstone tourism destinations.
To be clear, these are multi-layered, challenging issues. And no one government team or policy-driven organization is going to have all of the answers.
And that’s why BCREA will continue to push for the creation of a permanent housing roundtable, which will draw on expertise from across the real estate and housing sectors, and be available for discussions related to housing policy and legislation.
To fix the affordability and supply crisis in this province, we’re going to need all hands on deck. Those of us at BCREA hope the next provincial government will recognize this and act accordingly.
