There’s a ton of reasons we are currently facing a housing affordability crisis in the Vancouver area, and I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t completely understand all the factors. One of the biggest reasons, I strongly believe, is due to high international demand to move to the region - I mean, we are, after all, the world’s most liveable city.
The City of Victoria has done some research, all of it covered in this PDF, asking two questions about rental housing:
Here’s a quick summary of their findings.
Given that it is the City of Victoria that is looking for answers, most of the discussions
concentrated on municipal policies. It was pointed out that the City can do only three things to
encourage more rental housing:
- increase density;
- reduce red tape;
- reduce taxes.
Many of the recommendations flow from this fact.
However, a major barrier to the private sector electing to develop purpose built rental
properties continues to be taxation disincentives implemented by the federal government in
1972. The current policy essentially moves anyone interested in developing a multi-unit
residential or commercial building toward condominiums, hotels or warehouses and away from
rental properties. The City of Victoria needs to add its voice to those of the many organizations
that continue to press the federal government to remove these irrelevant barriers and tax all
multi-unit developments equally and equitably.
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