Opinion: Why the B.C. government should tread carefully regarding municipal density legislation  

Five months ago, at a high school reunion in Prince George, I recognized a couple standing near a doorway. After chatting about old acquaintances with the gentleman’s wife, I had a brief but candid discussion with her husband about B.C. politics and came away with the perception that this guy was pretty reasonable.

His name was Lorne Doerkson.

Now, with Doerkson’s new role as premier comes the responsibility of making policy not just by listening to the loudest voices, but also by considering evidence and professional advice, including on the critical housing file.

In summer 2022, when I was executive director at the Ministry of Attorney General’s housing policy branch, I was asked to establish and lead a cross-ministry team to develop a new provincial housing plan. By that time, B.C.’s housing crisis was a given. David Eby, then attorney general, was also the housing minister and wanted bold actions.

Eby soon became premier, and was in a hurry. We knew we were 20 years getting into this crisis and that it would take over a decade to get out of it. B.C. needed, and still needs, much more supply, and housing policy branch staff felt that we had to “lever the private sector” to make a meaningful difference. Government couldn’t do this alone, given the expense of building tens of thousands of units of non-market housing.

Using the available research, we developed a cabinet-approved 28 point housing plan, released in April 2023. Its two cornerstones became Bill 44 (whereby residential property owners in municipalities over 5,000 would have the right to build three to six units without rezoning hearings if there is compliance with the official community plan) and Bill 47 (which allows for much higher densities in 104 transit-oriented areas in 31 municipalities.)

Was the plan perfect? Of course not.

Still, one of Canada’s leading housing experts, economist Mike Moffat of the University of Western Ontario, was quoted in the Dec. 5, 2023, edition of The Globe and Mail regarding B.C.’s plan as follows: “They’re far ahead of anyone else when it comes to ambition and policy seriousness. What impresses me the most is that they recognize there’s no one silver bullet. The entire package is impressive.”

Other supporters of higher density include housing economist Thomas Davidoff of the University of B.C., who also co-authored an academic study that concluded the policy should generate over 200,000 new units over 10 years. Those researchers looked closely at New Zealand, which implemented similar measures in 2016.

North American jurisdictions that are transforming the “single family zoning” model to increase supply include Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Houston, and Vermont. Edmonton and Calgary adopted similar measures, although NIMBY politics are causing setbacks there.