Local government officials say zoning legislation isn't 'silver bullet' for affordability

Photo: Union of BC Municipalities

The City of Kelowna's Doug Gilchrist took part in a panel discussion on the impacts of provincial Bill 44 during the UBCM Housing Summit on Tuesday.

A panel of city managers from across B.C. agreed new provincial legislation to introduce more small-scale, multi-unit housing will only go so far, with more action from senior levels of government needed to bring about housing affordability.

Local government staff and elected officials gathered Tuesday at the Union of B.C. Municipalities Housing Summit to discuss the impact of B.C. government legislation requiring changes to municipal zoning bylaws, allowing for more housing like duplexes and townhomes on single family lots.

Doug Gilchrist, City of Kelowna’s city manager, appeared as part of a panel discussing Bill 44 and its impacts.

He said while he believes a boost in small-scale housing supply will result in long-term improvements, changes already in place in Kelowna have resulted in some measure of affordability — but “not the affordability of yesterday.”

Days of $800/month rent 'long gone'

“The people that remember the days of $800 for rent and things like that — those are long gone. We have a different level of affordability, I think, today. That’s a reality. And the answer is more in rental I think then it is in ownership, sadly, so probably not a huge impact on affordability without other incentives or other programs added to it,” Gilchrist said.

“I think there's going to be other things necessary to get us there.”

He noted an earlier panelist had alluded to the federal government’s role in housing delivery.

“We are one of the lowest levels of supportive housing provided by a senior level of government of any country in the G8 at about five per cent,” Gilchrist said, referring to the group of eight highly industrialized nations.

“That needs to shift if we're going to see true affordability for everyone occur.”

Incomes aren't keeping up

Jonathan Cote, deputy general manager for regional planning and housing development with the Metro Vancouver Regional District, also noted earlier conversations around the provincial and federal government “stepping back decades ago from non-market supply.”

“I think we've all witnessed it in our communities, people’s incomes have not been going up to the same extent that housing prices have changed over the past couple of decades,” Cote said.

“I think greater involvement on the non-market side of things is going to be critically important if we really do want to get to some of the root of the affordability challenges that our communities are facing.”

He noted adding to the housing supply with different housing options won’t make things worse, but isn’t “a silver bullet” to solve affordable housing challenges.

Ross Soward, manager of housing for the City of Victoria, noted the zoning changes allowing small-scale multi-unit housing is less about affordability and more about attainable ownership options, “making the most of every tear-down of a single family home.”

“This is a very small scale of housing that doesn't have the ability to deliver deep affordability in any kind of meaningful way — in the same way that you have a major tower within a SkyTrain centre in Metro Vancouver where you can deliver 20 per cent of below market housing,” he said.

“We’re talking about six units or four units. … I think we need to be realistic about what this scale of housing can actually deliver within that context of affordability.”