Casey Edge, Executive Director of the Victoria Residential Builders Association, discusses new government policies and their impacts on Greater Victoria's housing supply. Citified.ca
Q&A on government policies impacting Victoria's housing supply with Casey Edge of Victoria Residential Builder Assoc.
Ten on the 10th
Published November 10, 2023
Citified's Ten on the 10th is a monthly question-and-answer segment connecting our readers with the insight and knowledge of Victoria's top real-estate and business professionals.
Ten on the Tenth's November, 2023 segment features Casey Edge, Executive Director of the Victoria Residential Builders Association.
Asking the questions is Ross Marshall, Senior Vice President of the Victoria offices of commercial real-estate brokerage CBRE. As a leader in facilitating large-scale commercial real-estate transactions throughout the Capital Region – which include apartment complexes, industrial retail and office properties, and land/development opportunities – Ross and his team are at the forefront of market-leading real-estate transactions on Vancouver Island.
Would you like to be featured as part of a future Ten on the 10th Q&A? We'd like to hear from you.
What do you think of the BC government’s recently announced legislation boosting small multi-family housing on single-family lots?
It’s a big, overdue step, but the devil’s in the details. The City of Victoria’s missing middle bylaw resulted in zero applications due to the regulatory hurdles such as set-backs and the costs. So builders are waiting for the details. Reducing public hearings by linking development approvals to Official Community Plans is also an important move. That said, we’re still dealing with 13 Official Community Plans in a region of 400,000 people with no real regional planning for housing transportation and infrastructure.
So what more would you do?
End the provincial policy of municipal self-determination, which has failed an entire generation of Millennials trying to afford a home. Require responsible regional planning and start the light rail transit to the West Shore. Edmonton started their LRT in 1974 with the same population Greater Victoria has today.
Fix slow building permit approvals. There is no good reason why a basic building permit takes a week in Langford and months in Saanich, Victoria, Oak Bay. Create an enforceable timeline on approvals. Perhaps municipalities should forfeit the fees. The same for development applications. There must be accountability beyond elections every 4 years.
Speaking of elections, require all newly elected councils to attend a seminar on housing development created and delivered with industry participation. Public hearings are not the time nor the place to educate elected officials.
Anything else?
Cap fees and increases charged by municipalities, including DCCs. End the practice of Community Amenity Contributions (CACs) as recommended in the province’s own Opening Doors report. End the Property Transfer Tax charged up to three times in the development of a single home. It should be a fee for service. Link it to the cost of a simple title transfer, not the cost of a home. The federal government should keep its promise from 1990 and index the GST New Housing Rebate to inflation and the cost of today’s home.
What do you think of the government’s plans to boost supply through regulations on Airbnb’s?
These initiatives, including speculation tax, are red herrings intended to divert voters’ attention away from decades of failed housing policies and treating housing as a cash machine. They can’t blame foreign buyers anymore, so now they need a new distraction – Airbnb. The Conference Board of Canada did an extensive study and found that the impact of Airbnb was not large enough to be affecting affordability on its own. When this new regulation fails, government will find a new distraction, someone else to blame. Housing has become politics in BC.
Politicians are quick to point the finger at a myriad of external forces creating housing un-affordability. The reality is governments control housing supply and affordability. They tell builders where and what to build (zoning); when to build (permits); how to build (building code); and how much revenue they demand from the projects. If governments enabled the market to work as intended, we would have much more housing supply and affordability.
Do we have the skilled trades to build the homes anticipated by this new legislation?
There has been a skilled trades shortage for years, created by an academic system operating in silos. We can tap into a huge potential stream by enabling university students to take electives for credit in trades such as framing. This will create a more well-rounded student, more summer job opportunities and open the door to new careers. Allow UVic students to take a carpentry course at Camosun College for credit.
What are your views on the new Zero Carbon Step Code? Saanich and Victoria adopted the highest level on November 1.
They have undermined systems like on-demand hot water using renewable natural gas (RNG), which are both carbon neutral and a more affordable source of heat, especially in townhomes. They have also undermined their own taxpayer-funded RNG project at Hartland Landfill.
RNG is produced by Saanich and other CRD residents in the form of waste/biogas at Hartland. Fast-tracking Emission Level 4 in the Zero Carbon Step Code is like asking FortisBC to buy their RNG, use FortisBC’s distribution system, then passing a bylaw preventing distribution of their own RNG. Victoria and Saanich councils are obstructing their own project. If FortisBC can’t sell the gas, how will they recoup their investment? How will the CRD, municipalities, and ultimately taxpayers, pay for the project?
Plus, the CRD is mothballing its electricity plant at Hartland. They say a lifecycle GHG assessment found that decommissioning the plant and building a new RNG facility is the most effective option from a climate change perspective. RNG decarbonizes the natural gas supply and lowers overall GHG emissions.
Saanich and Victoria councillors are part of the CRD board that approved this project. The early adoption of EL 4/zero carbon by Saanich, Victoria and others lacks basic fairness, transparency and undermines housing affordability.
How does this impact townhomes and affordability?
On-demand hot water using RNG is a more affordable and efficient way to address the limited space in townhomes. Annual operating cost for a gas on-demand unit is half that of an electric tank. The gas unit lifespan is 20+ years vs an electric tank’s 7 to 10 years. On-demand wall units free-up space for the design of smaller more affordable homes vs large electric tanks. An additional electric tank would be needed for a mortgage-helper suite assisting affordability. Four electric tanks would be needed to achieve the lifespan of one gas on-demand unit that operates more efficiently. Carbon-neutral RNG should be supported in terms of housing affordability, operating costs, mortgage helper suites, and maximizing space.
While the province is mandating more townhomes in municipalities, will municipalities inhibit new construction through other means, such as the Step Code and high fees?
They do so now and may continue in the future. We have already mentioned the importance of capping fees and regulations. The BC government has provided far too much authority to municipalities. Building codes, including Step Code, as well as energy sources, should be the sole mandate of the province. As clearly demonstrated, municipal councils do not have the expertise to responsibly address these issues.
Do you have other examples of municipalities with too much authority over provincial codes?
When a municipal inspector disagrees with a builder over a code interpretation, the builder contacts the authority that wrote the code - BC’s Building and Safety Standards Branch. The branch may agree with the builder, but the municipality may ignore this advice.
The municipality proceeds with enforcing their own interpretation, including going to the Building Code Appeal Board at taxpayers’ expense. There are few financial consequences for the municipality, but this process still costs time and money for the builder, even if the builder wins.
The solution is clear, this governance needs to change. The province’s Building and Safety Standards Branch must provide binding interpretations for its own Building Code. If a municipality wants to suggest a different interpretation, they should do so through the provincial Interpretation Committee for future code changes.
A talking point has emerged that suggests we’ve moved from a safety-focused building code to a politics-based building code, and that explains some of the upwards spiralling of building costs. Can you speak to this?
The foundation of building codes is health and safety – consumer protection. Governments, especially in BC, have bypassed this foundation to fast-track energy efficiency. The result has been unintended consequences and putting the public at risk. A few examples in the past are leaky condo, asbestos and urea formaldehyde insulation all done in the pursuit of energy efficiency without due diligence.
Most recently, in 2017 the BC government enabled municipalities to fast-track the Step Code, ignoring research showing that, without foundation mitigation, toxic radon increases in more energy efficient homes due to depressurization. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada and is linked to lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia. After five years, the BC government eventually agreed with our concerns, and they plan to require radon mitigation on the west coast. Municipal councils haven’t the expertise to establish provincial building code regulations like Step Code, and never should have been empowered to do so. It is politics over health and safety.
Step Code also boosted costs significantly, but it seems many councils are more focused on how much money they can squeeze from builders, than the added costs to homebuyers. Another example of how housing has become political cash machine. It’s why BC has the highest average home prices in Canada. C
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