Earlier this week, BC Premier David Ebby has announced a proposed legislation to end the ‘Outdated Zoning Bylaws’. This has created some noise, but this is not the first time he mentioned about the end of Single-Family Zoning.
Actually, in early spring, Mr. David Ebby actually announced this proposal as part of Homes for People plan.
Homes for People plan is the end of everything OUTDATED and the beginning of something NEW, that is, Missing middles.
What new constructions do you see around you? High Rise Condo Buildings or Single Family Homes.
BILL 44 aims to build more mid-size residences such as Townhomes, Duplexes, Triplexes, and Laneway houses so that families don’t have a limited option of just two-bed condos or out-of-budget single-family homes.
And how will it be achieved?
This bill mandates local governments to update their bylaws so that 3 to 6 multi-unit buildings can be built on small to large single-family lots. Upto 3 multi-units can be built on smaller Single-Family lots and if the lot is bigger and closer to a transit stop with frequent service, then up to 6 multi-unit residences can be built.
An interesting fact is that Zoning Bylaws fall under City Hall or as we call Local Governments powers, but this bill is a BOSS move by the NDP government, giving time till June end of next year to City Councils to amend their zoning bylaws and end single-family zoning.
To make this proposed plan easier, the legislation also mandates to abolition of the hearing process for rezoning applications. If the rezoning proposal aligns with OCP, then that rezoning proposal would not go through any hearing process.
What are the implications
Real estate in Canada as we have seen is very sensitive to changes in interest rates and legislation and this is a big change. Provincial government overstepping and mandating the local governments to change their bylaws will for sure create some ripples. We don’t want these ripples in real estate prices to be significant though. Rolling it out on the provincial level will not create a significant uprise in property prices. At first, there will be a slight surge, but it will flatline pretty soon. The same happened when this policy was introduced in Victoria, Kelowna and Kimberley.
Secondly, we don’t want our existing services to be burdened. If this legislation is executed poorly, it will have the same outcome as has been seen in the case of excessive immigration by Justin Trudeau’s government. Major cities like Surrey are still struggling to provide essential services like health and policing. With the new multi-housing law, we do not want these services to get burdened even further
My opinion
If executed properly and with good planning, this can be a game changer. The provincial governemnt should start helping cities financially so that services are adequate before June 2024, which is the deadline for local governments.
Below is my Instagram reel from early spring when this proposal came out by the NDP government.
