Research & Reports
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Assessing the Limitations of the Market Approach to B.C.'s Housing Crisis
British Columbia has a cost-of-living crisis, manifesting primarily in out-of-control housing costs. Understanding what is creating the crisis of housing affordability is integral to developing an exit strategy that addresses its root causes. To date, the housing crisis has only deepened despite repeated legislative interventions at all levels of government.
In this report, we provide an overview of British Columbia’s recent legislative efforts to increase housing supply, provide BCGEU’s analysis of these measures and their underlying assumptions, as well as offer an outline of a better way forward that puts the interests of B.C. residents ahead of those profiting the most off of the ongoing crisis.
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Analysis on Provincial Legislation Restricting No-Fault Evictions (Bill 14)
On April 2, 2024 the provincial government introduced Bill 14 – 2024: Tenancy Statutes Amendment Act, 2024.[1] Bill 14 introduces a number of changes to British Columbia’s Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act and the Residential Tenancy Act. The proposed changes in Bill 14 were not all addressed in the press release and backgrounder accompanying the introduction of the legislation[2], and all proposed changes are summarized below.
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Evaluating Prospects for Vacancy Control Policy in B.C.’s Housing Affordability Crisis
This report argues that vacancy control is an effective and necessary policy tool for addressing the extreme housing affordability crisis facing B.C. renters. In effect, vacancy control ties rent to the unit and means landlords cannot hike the rent when a tenancy turns over.
Mainstream discussion has entrenched a viewpoint that argues rent regulation, and especially vacancy control, is harmful. A closer analysis of academic and policy literature suggests otherwise: there is in fact no consensus that rent control is bad policy, and there are significant limitations in the econometric methods used by opponents of rent control.
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Affordable BC: What Can Local Governments Do?
Housing affordability is a crisis for communities across B.C. and will undoubtedly be one of the main issues in the fall 2018 local government elections.
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Submission to the B.C. Rental Housing Task Force
As part of their efforts to make housing more affordable in the province, the BC NDP government put together a taskforce to look into changes that could be made to the Residential Tenancy Act to improve protections for renters. This task force spent much of June and July speaking to communities and accepting written submissions as part of their consultation.
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Building an Affordable BC: What Can the Province Do?
Speculative investment in B.C. has made the province one of the most expensive places in the world to live. While various factors contribute to rising housing prices in Vancouver, the most troubling and underlying cause of our situation is that housing and property is being treated primarily as a financial asset rather than as a place to live. Our housing system and real estate market has become overpowered by a speculative purchasing environment and our current methods for regulation, planning and taxation have failed to manage the effects. The crisis is the result of three main factors: