Episode 91: Burnaby Housing Authority

Could municipal housing authorities help address Canada’s housing shortage? John McEown explains how Burnaby is using partnerships, city-owned land, and innovative housing delivery to increase rental housing and support community growth.

Listen to “Ep 91 Burnaby Housing Authority” on Spreaker.

You will also find “Measure Twice, Cut Once” on iTunes, Spotify, Spreaker, and on HAVAN’s YouTube channel.

JOHN BRENDAN McEOWN, CEO, Burnaby Housing Authority

McEown has over a decade of experience in affordable housing development. As the Burnaby Housing Authority CEO, and bfore this as Associate Vice-President of Development Strategies at BC Housing. Throughout his career, he has overseen the delivery of more than 9,000 affordable housing units and secured approvals for an additional 8,000 units across British Columbia. His work has spanned project delivery, complex financing, rezoning, stakeholder partnerships and strategic program alignment with agencies such as CMHC.

McEown holds a Master of Urban Studies from Simon Fraser University and a BA in Urban Planning and Land Economics from Quest University. He is recognized for his collaborative leadership style, ability to navigate complex systems, and focus on results-oriented housing solutions. He is deeply aligned with the Burnaby Housing Authority’s vision of creating repeatable, scalable and community-driven housing models.

 

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MTCO_Ep_91_Burnaby_Housing_Authority_240-transcript

0:25:42

Audio transcribed using Ai technology. Spelling and grammatical errors can occur. We do our best to review and ensure proper nouns are correct, add hyperlinks, and continue to work with the programs to advance the results.

John 00:00

We’re looking at a kind of a cross subsidized model so that we can be financially sustainable. So, we’ll have a mix of affordable rental and market rental homes, and they’ll be secured in perpetuity as rental housing. And we’re still kind of finalizing what that mix of affordable homes and rental homes will be. What’s the difference between affordable and market? It depends. So, we’re looking at a bunch of different metrics. Some of the units will be tied to income levels, some of the units will potentially be a reduction against market rates. And then We’ll have market rates as dictated by the market.

Mike 00:36

Hello, Jennifer Lee and welcome back to Measure Twice, Cut Once. I’m Mike and I’m super excited for today’s conversation because we’re going to be talking about Burnaby’s newly created housing authority and this is very exciting. Burnaby is BC’s third largest city, my former home as well, proud former Burnaby resident, wonderful municipality to live in and it has been leading the way in Metro Vancouver’s efforts to bring about a new housing market. Very important conversation for all of us moving forward, no matter what we’re doing in this big, big thing called the housing industry. And it is a big thing indeed. So, this topic is going to hit, pardon the pun, home for everyone.

Jennifer-Lee

Oh, I feel like I need a little symbol, like, ding. I didn’t plan it that way. It’s just like, okay, it makes sense. It’s a dad joke for sure. Today, we have John McEwen, CEO of the Burnaby Housing Authority, to talk about Burnaby’s new housing authority and the inroads. Oh, I feel like that’s another pun they are making with bringing new homes to market and why this matters to them.

Mike  01:42

I feel like we do an entire episode of dad jokes, but we have too many important other things to talk about. So, the Burnaby Housing Authority, or BHA, is getting it started at a critical juncture in the housing crisis in Metro Vancouver. As I understand it, it has a unique mandate to leverage city owned land to create both rental and affordable housing options. So the BHA is new for Burnaby and could be a scalable model for other municipalities to follow as well. To talk more about that, we’re welcomed by John, the first CEO of this newly minted organization, and we’re really excited to have this conversation. And so first of all, first time on our show, welcome. And second of all, let’s dig right into it. How does the Burnaby Housing Authority work?

John 02:14

Thank you so much for having me today is an arm’s length corporation created by the city as a dedicated enable tool to help create more secure, affordable market rental housing for the city of Burnaby. And really, the aim is to help fill gaps in the housing supply so that we’re creating solutions for folks that meet the needs of Burnaby residents. And we do this through a variety of rates primarily leveraging city owned land and prioritizing social outcomes. And then we use cross subsidization within our projects so we can deliver both market rental and affordable homes while covering our own operational costs.

Jennifer-Lee

Okay, let’s just break it down a little bit more for the listener. When you’re saying, because I always hear things like this, that the city is leveraging city owned land to prioritize social outcomes, what does that exactly mean? Like, what type of land are we talking about? What are we putting on it?

John 03:20

Yeah, so we’re looking at developers. A variety of different projects, different size types projects depending on the site and how it fits into the community plan. The city owns a number of sites across across Burnaby and so you’ll see like in our first few projects we’re working on a large townhome project and then we also have a six-story wood frame project as well.

Jennifer-Lee

And are these pieces of city Land something that maybe an old mall was on, a vacant lot? What type of land does the city own that is a city? Former park.

John

It’s all sorts of things, to be honest. So I’m still going through the city’s inventory of land, but our first few sites are vacant sites, kind of been slated for development. And kind of targeted as that within the city. And we work closely with the city’s planning department on kind of what these sites want to be and then try to fit within that.

Jennifer-Lee

Nice. And before you got into this, did you always have a passion for housing?

John 04:25

Yeah, absolutely. So study urban planning and land economics with kind of a focus on affordable housing and the housing crisis. And then spent most of my career at BC Housing working on different affordable housing projects across the province. And then moved into this, this in May.

And we’re really new. Burnaby Housing Authority, I should have mentioned as well, was just created in 2024. Well, you’re the first CEO. So you’re paving the way. Yes. First CEO and was the first, only employee for a few months. So how many now are there? Now we’re at four. Whoa, okay.

Mike

So you were able to watch this thing from its infancy and hopefully we can have a conversation in a few years and talk about some of the successes and some of the learning that you were able to scale. The question I’ve got is you’re talking about taking property that you own and developing to something else. So that sounds very similar to what a developer does. Obviously not a developer. Are you looking to replace developers or compete with developers or push developers to do different things in your municipality? How is Burnaby approaching this?

John 05:12

Yeah, so we’re really looking to be a partner. We wanna partner with the development sector. We wanna partner with the nonprofit sector to fill gaps within the housing spectrum and we do so since we have land available, we can kind of prioritize affordability and still make a project that’s financially sustainable. But we want to do that in partnership with the nonprofit hosting sector and the private development sector. And we’re doing that on one of our first projects. We’re partnering with the local developer, Mosaic.

Mike

And it sounds like an interesting opportunity because developers are driven by the private market. So they have to look at costs and loss and profitability. Whereas it sounds like you have a more broad mandate so you can do different types of housing. Can we get into that a little bit as well?

John 05:57

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and that’s exactly right. So We have a different mandate.

We do want to be financially sustainable and not reliant on taxpayer funding in the future. So we do need to create some sort of return to cover operating costs, but we’re not looking for a private market profit. So we can apply that directly to affordability and then also utilize the already owned land by the city.

Mike

And does that impact the type of housing that you can develop as well?

John

I think it can. We’re still kind of figuring that piece out. But I think one of the things, like in terms of the city of Burnaby, there’s a major need for family oriented housing. And we’ve been able to do a townhome project as one of our first projects that’ll have a mix of affordable rental and market rental, which I think will be a really exciting opportunity for folks.

Jennifer-Lee

So, since this is kind of brand new As we discussed, we have a townhouse complex obviously being built currently right now?

John

No, we’re in design. We’re breaking ground this year on our first two projects and one is a townhome project.

Jennifer-Lee

So you have two going to break ground soon. Yeah. And then how many more do you have like The vetting process, I guess? Are you starting anything?

John 07:03

Yeah, we have a number of sites that we’re working with with the city on and just trying to figure out what that pipeline looks like. These first few projects are quite a big scale. So it’ll be 387 purpose built rental homes. And then we want, you know, hundreds of more units in the years to come.

Jennifer-Lee

And when you say purpose built rental, I think there’s a lot of misconception about really what that is and who can live there. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

John

Yeah, so as I mentioned, we’re looking at a kind of a cross subsidized model so that we can be financially sustainable. So we’ll have a mix of affordable rental and market rental homes, and they’ll be secured in perpetuity as as rental housing. And we’re still kind of finalizing that mix of affordable homes and rental homes will be.

Jennifer-Lee 07:50

What’s the difference between affordable and market?

John

It depends. So we’re looking at a bunch of different metrics. Some of the units will be tied to income levels. Some of the units will potentially be a reduction against market rates. And then we’ll have market rates as dictated by the market.

Mike

How did this all come about? I’m really curious. Because, like, what happened? The mayor called you one day and said, Hey, we want to do this thing, or was this sort of the end of a longer process? What made the well, let’s go back a step. Is there anyone besides Burnaby and the Lower Mainland doing this? And what prompted Burnaby to take this leadership role in a new way of doing housing in their municipality?

John

Yeah, there are similar entities, uh, Surrey, uh, Whistler, Squamish, they have similar entities, uh, to Burnaby Housing terms of the history, the city I think was quite purposeful in terms of their intent in building this and basing that off of community engagement. So they conducted a significant community engagement exercise. There was a need that came out of that for more affordable rentals and market rentals, and they felt like setting up a separate entity outside of the city that was controlled by the city as the owner was a really effective way of creating more affordable and market housing.

Jennifer-Lee 09:16

Yeah, well, Burnaby is so massive, and there’s so many different areas to Burnaby. And that’s the one thing that I think you guys have room to grow compared to maybe some other areas in Vancouver. What would be your hopes for? I know we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves because it’s only a year in, but what would be your hopes in like five to 10 years for this?

John 09:46

Yeah. Like I mentioned, I mean We want to create hundreds of more units that meet folks where they’re at in their housing journey. That’s really the focus.

We want to build on that housing spectrum, fill gaps within that housing spectrum through partnerships. And so we’re really focused on doing that. And then we want to be a really great tool for the city to respond to community goals. So if the city has certain goals, we want to be a tool that the city can look to to help deliver on those.

Jennifer-Lee

And right now, with the properties that you have, are they roughly around location wise around each other are they all throughout Burnaby?

John

The first two properties, they’re somewhat close, both kind of in that Edmonds area.

Mike

So, I have a question for you. There are mandates from the province of BC to build housing a certain way and have a certain number of housing units. There’s obviously a municipal level mandate as well. What are your thoughts on the provision of the provincial housing target orders and how is the BHA structure going to enhance this process and the progress made on hitting those numbers? Because as I understand it, we’re trying to hit some pretty significant numbers of August of 2030. That’s like what, four and a half years? Not even.

John 10:44

Yeah. Well, first of all, I’m coming into a city that’s doing incredibly well on those targets. I think for us, as I mentioned, we’re a nimble, responsive tool to help deliver on the goals of the city. And one of those goals right now is to deliver more nonmarket and market rental units. I think that aligns with the housing target orders. So I think you’ll see us contributing to that progress in the future.

Jennifer-Lee

And you were saying earlier that the two sites you have right now are roughly around each other hope to kind of scatter throughout because like I said, Burnaby is vast. So you don’t want to just have one type of housing in one area of Burnaby.

John

No, no. Yeah, we’re open to all of the city and really, like I said, we want to work with the community plan and work with the different communities within Burnaby to have projects that fit within those areas.

Mike

I like the fact it’s not a onesizefitsall because obviously creating housing to meet the needs of people living on Capitol Hill is going to be very different to create than the housing needs of people living near Metrotown where there’s a greater level of density as well. The question I always have, and this always goes down to any level of development, is how does it get funded? So if I want to develop property that I own, I have to secure funding for it. The same? Do you have to go to a lending agency? How does this all work for the city of Burnaby and how are you making it work?

John 11:57

Yeah, absolutely. So we do, we have to go to different lending agencies and apply for financing. The city though has put us in a great position because one, they have land that they own already. And then the second piece, they’ve given us some startup capital to help push those projects forward. And then yeah, we’ll work with different lending agencies, and then we’ll work with other levels of government as well to see if there’s partnership opportunities that can go directly towards creating more affordability.

Mike 12:42

Perfect. So we got so much more to talk about, I feel like we’re just getting started, but we would be remiss if we didn’t take just a couple of moments to thank our amazing sponsors. So we’re gonna thank our sponsors. We’ll be right back. And we look forward to continue this conversation.

Jennifer-Lee

Measure Twice, Cut Once is grateful to our podcast partners, FortisBC, BC Housing and Trail Appliances. Support from our partners helps us share expert knowledge and resources with families looking to build design and renovate the home right for you.

For BC Housing, creating access to housing solutions that meets everybody’s needs is a guiding principle. BC Housing is working with governments nonprofits first nations and residential construction industry members to create practical solutions to BC Housing challenges. To learn more about BC Housing initiatives, programs and services, go to www.bchousing.org .

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14:00

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Mike

All right, we are back. We are continuing our conversation. So we’ve talked a little about what your organization does, what’s its mandate and what that’s meant to do. Let’s talk about the next part of our conversation because these are very lofty goals. These are very big ideals. Obviously along the way, there’s going to be hiccups. There’s going to be the X factor we can’t control. I’d love to dig into some of the challenges you’ve had to face so far and more importantly, how you were able to scale it because that is that conversation is the template by which other municipalities can watch or listen to this and go, Hmm, we can do this too. ” And I think it’s a great way to sort of lead into the next half of our conversation as well.

John 15:02

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in terms of challenges, development is just really complex right now. We have new code that we’re working with and trying to work through that. There’s different goals within development projects that we’re trying to meet. And so our focus has really been on simplifying the processes wherever we can. And then the beauty of having an arm’s length entity that’s separate is we can be really lean and nimble in our decision making. I think that’s really critical. So we’re able to make decisions and respond really quickly. To the different challenges that come up and work through them. And I think you’ll see that balance in our first few projects. We have really strong livability, but it’s paired with clean, efficient systems and really practical design. And then we have the beauty of being a city owned entity. So we have a really great partnership with the city. And we’re really trying to rely on that to work through approvals processes in a streamlined way.

Mike 15:56

Awesome. Thank you.

Jennifer-Lee

So, Burnaby has done a really great job when it comes to housing, and they have basically fully adopted everything that the province has suggested in Bill 44 and getting up to step code three. Can you tell us a little bit first about Bill 44 and then how you got up to step code three?

John

Yeah. So, a little bit outside of our scope within the housing authority. But what I will say is, yeah, the city of Burnaby has been an incredible leader within this space. And they’ve been working very hard to meet the different requirements from the province and do it in a way that meets community needs within the city of Burnaby. And so we’re getting to benefit from that as a new entity trying to build housing in the city.

Mike

So previously, we had our friend Nick Petre on, who’s been a guest, and his exact words were Burnaby is a cool city to build and they’re doing it right. And I’m going to read exactly what he said on our episode. They got rid of the FSR that I was talking about earlier. They no longer calculated it all. They just go by how much site coverage you have on your lot. And the amount of site coverage you have on the lot depends on how many units you have in your house. So, what he basically goes on about is that Burnaby is a lot more flexible. He says he can get at least 50 if not 100 more on a lot in Burnaby than he used to be able to. And that’s amazing. So let’s talk about. How Burnaby is able to do that and how that flexibility exists because I think that’s a missing piece for some other municipalities. Do you want to dig into that a little bit and talk about that flexibility that you’ve created?

John 17:01

Yeah, so I don’t want to speak for the city but what I will say just to reiterate, yeah, they’ve been an absolute leader in this space and then we get to benefit from that. So, you know, we’ve they’ve set up an entity that has this focus on creating affordable and rental housing options for folks along kind of the housing spectrum. And we get to benefit from a planning department that and a city that has been able to be flexible to create solutions that work.

Jennifer-Lee 18:10

And what are some of the key aspects of Bill 44? And how does that play into your role?

John

Yeah, so in terms of Bill 44, I think we’re able to benefit from how that expedites housing and the development of housing. And so we’re just trying to take advantage of that with the city as a partner.

Mike

I think that’s going to make a huge difference because in addition to being easier to build, it’s going to cut down on carrying costs, cut down on time.

18:50

There’s a whole bunch of like ratcheting wins as a result of doing that. So we put all this stuff into play. We start working on some projects. There’s some projects underway. Let’s talk about those projects right now because they’re really, really exciting. And this is that nail it and scale it sort of thing, where if we make these ones work, it’s going to be a lot easier to do it as well. So talk about some of the projects that you’re working on right now, and let’s get very granular into what they entail.

John 19:19

Yeah, totally. So we’re breaking ground this year on two projects. Together, they deliver 387 affordable and market rental units. One is 183 unit family oriented townhome development with two and three bedroom units, and we’re working in partnership with Mosaic Homes on that project. That’s a really exciting project and we’ll start shortly here. The other one includes two six-story wood frame buildings on one story of underground parking and it’s a mix of studio one, two, and three bedroom homes and includes some great amenities community gardens, indoor and outdoor spaces, a gym. And then we’ve improved some pedestrian connections within that site, which I think will be a great benefit for the city as well. And this was before I had started, but the board did an incredible job kickstarting the first project, which is the two six story wood frame buildings. So that kicked off, I think, in early 2025. So pretty quick turnaround to be able to break ground. That quickly.

Jennifer-Lee 19:58

And are these sites accessible to transit?

John

Yeah, both sites are accessible to transit. I think Burnaby is also unique that way where they are so well connected by SkyTrain and bus. Yeah, so both sites are going to get to benefit from that. And what is your thoughts

Jennifer-Lee

Well, you already said how important it is, but like the importance of rapid transit when it comes to delivering housing.

John

Yeah, I think when developing housing, it’s a strength of the city of Burnaby to have SkyTrain and bus service kind of through the city and really well connected. And just gives people options, commuting options, aids and affordability, in my opinion. And yeah, and so that’s, I think, a huge benefit for the city of Burnaby.

Mike

Every municipality has the same issue. Supply and demand for housing is not the same. We can say at a very broad level, every municipality needs more housing.

21:13

What are some of the specific housing needs in Burnaby that we have to deal with in the next little while? And how is your organization going to help us deal with those in real time?

John

Yeah, I think in terms of Burnaby housing needs, as I mentioned earlier, there’s a need for family affordable housing. And so we’re really focused on that. And then there’s a need for more affordable, livable rental housing units. And Our projects are going to be able to kind of fill that gap and help provide that affordability that people need. And then also you know, with their ability to lever city owned land with kind of the margins that we’re looking at to just cover operating costs, I think we’re able to continue to build rental housing and maintain supply, which is a crucial component of the housing crisis.

Jennifer-Lee

Great. And just wrapping it up, last question for what is your goal with the BHA? I know you kind of mentioned a little bit at the beginning, but what is the ultimate goal here?

John

Yeah, we really want to move quickly and efficiently to deliver homes that the community needs and respond to the housing goals of the city.

22:21

I think we really want to just be a great tool for the city of Burnaby to deliver on what the community needs and be an option for them that can move quickly and effectively.

Jennifer-Lee

Great.

Mike

Well, safe to say, another great conversation in the books and over the airway. And thank you to John for sharing how the Burnaby Housing Authority works and how it’s impacting neighborhoods in BC’s third largest city. So much information to talk about today. What I love, really, at the highest level, is that BHA is a city mandated group to fill gaps in housing and to accelerate filling some of those gaps. And the other thing that I really like is that you’re not trying to be a developer, you’re trying to be a partner to developers, working with the city to expedite goals so that everybody gets ahead. And this is the key that, you know, over the next little while, as a result of that, over and above what the developers would have done on their own, 387 incremental units, 387 new families in the area, 387 families who don’t have to move out of this beautiful municipality that.

23:22

You know, what a great place to live. And it’s nice to be able to stay where you work and where you live and everything else. So, a lot of really great things that are happening and I’m very excited to sort of stay following what you guys are doing and we will keep up to what you guys are doing because as this continues, this is something we got to talk about because there’s more people, not just here in BC and the lower mainland. All across Canada who can learn from what you’re doing and leverage some of your takeaways from this as well.

Jennifer-Lee 23:51

Yeah, and before we go, what’s one more thing that you would love people to know about the organization you’re part of. Yeah, just that we’re Here in the community. And as was mentioned, we want to be a partner to the sector. So, yeah, feel free to reach out. Happy to talk about what we’re doing and see if there’s opportunities to partner to move housing forward in the city.

Mike

Awesome. And everybody watching, listening, thank you. Thank you for being a part of our episode with us. And with John. And we’d love it if you could help us out a little bit by liking or sharing this episode so more people have a chance to hear what we’re doing and to hear what we’re talking about, because these are important conversations. Now, as an added bonus, if you choose to do that, you can win something really cool. It’s a Napoleon Rogue® PRO 525 gas barbecue, valued at $1400, compliments of FortisBC. All you have to do, it’s super, super easy. You go to havencameasuretwicecutonce put your information in, boom, you could be good grilling in one of your beautiful new units that are getting built in Burnaby thanks to BHA.

Jennifer-Lee 24:55

And remember hit and follow and stay connected and never miss an episode thank you so much to our partners Trail Appliances, ForestBC, BC Housing, Rami Films, Jpod Creations and AI Technology and Design.

Mike

We should take a couple moments to also talk about HAVAN the Homebuilders Association of Vancouver of which we’re all proud members and this podcast originates. We as an organization are very proudly affiliated with CHBA BC and CHBA National which are the provincial and federal versions of the Homebuilders Association. And we all work together to support a stronger residential construction industry in BC, in Burnaby, across Canada. And we do this through education and advocacy.

Jennifer-Lee

Thank you.

Mike

Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on Measure Twice, Cut Once.

Jennifer-Lee

Oh, perfect. Thank you.