When the B.C. government’s Rental Housing Task Force released its report on December 12th with twenty-three recommendations for new or amended legislation, many observers expected to see the usual vitriol directed at our industry – especially from renters.
The Task Force visited 11 communities in BC from April to December of 2018, collecting suggestions from all sectors of society. They also received 430 written submissions and more than 1400 responses to its online survey.
“Throughout our engagement process, we discovered that people throughout B.C., whether in bigger centres like Vancouver or Kelowna, or rural communities like Revelstoke or Salt Spring Island, have been facing challenges with the current system for too long,” said Ronna Rae-Leonard, member of the Rental Housing Task Force and MLA for Courtenay-Comox. “There are unique concerns in each community, but we feel that our recommendations will make life better for everyone.”
With all the responses tallied, it turns out that the number one suggestion from renters to address the housing crisis is to increase the rental supply.
Amazingly, renters and developers agree on the first priority identified in the report.
We also agree on the methods for the government to achieve it – through supporting purpose-built rental housing via incentives for builders.
The flip side to increasing the rental supply is protecting existing rental stock. Here, we may disagree on the best direction. Daniel Greenhalgh, ENM co-founder, believes that maintaining or expanding rent control measures – especially via the ill-advised ‘vacancy control’ proposal – will handcuff landlords in their attempts to maintain or modernize their properties.
“If you artificially freeze the values of rental properties, you’re going to see those properties decay very quickly,” says Greenhalgh. “Landlords won’t have the means to properly maintain them. And since most of our rental stock in B.C. is over forty years old, this will have a significant impact on the quality of life of tenants.”
But for now, let’s focus on our common points of interest. As new Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart pointed out during the campaign, government and developers will have to work together if the housing crisis is ever going to be solved.
“Why attack people we’ll have to work with later?” said Stewart. “Even if we do a massive investment in non-market housing, we’ll still be working with them.”
There are over 20,000 privately-built purpose-built rental units currently in development. If our government is serious about addressing the number one concern amongst renters in their province, they will do everything they can to ensure that these developments are protected.
