The province launched a new digital Building Permit Hub on May 27 in its next step to help build homes faster and address challenges in B.C.’s housing market. Still in BETA testing, the goal of the HUB is to help streamline and standardize local permitting processes to make it easier and faster for industry professionals to submit applications to local governments and First Nations.
Some of the biggest challenges with the local building-permit submission process have been incomplete applications due to inconsistent submission requirements from one community to another and different interpretations of compliance with BC Building Code requirements, contributing to costly delays, as noted for years now by HAVAN and industry partners.
At first glance, the HUB is a positive move.
BUILDING PERMIT HUB
The Building Permit Hub looks to address these challenges by offering a one-stop, simplified process, resulting in faster processing and review times. Builders will submit their permit applications online in the hub, which promises to:
- standardize building-permit submission requirements across jurisdictions in B.C.
- automatically check that the permit application is complete; and
- automatically check compliance with key parts of the BC Building Code.
Twelve local governments and two First Nations will pilot the first version of the Building Permit Hub to update the tool for their local requirements with permitting capability expected to come online this summer.
ROLL OUT
Summer 2024 – Phase 1 Low Density Housing
The digital program will roll out in stages – the first being this summer. Phase 1 participants who will be using the Hub includes: Burnaby, Campbell River, City of Langley, City of North Vancouver, Cowichan Valley Regional District, District of Saanich, Kamloops, Maple Ridge, Nanaimo, Surrey, Town of Qualicum Beach, Victoria, the Musqueam Indian Band, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.
Digital building permit applications will be available for low-density housing up to four units, with a checklist of what’s required for a building permit – building permit requirements specific to each pilot community that automatically update when a builder inputs the project address. There will also be a completeness check – includes a building permit application completeness check, and a Building Code compliance check – automated check for compliance with the energy-efficiency requirements of the BC Building Code (Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code).
Fall 2024
Onboarding more users and greater capacity
In the fall of 2024, more communities beyond the 14 Phase 1 pilot communities will be able to use the Building Permit Hub and digital permits applications will be available for more building types, including residential buildings up to eight units, accessory dwelling units and secondary suites.
There will also be test integration of the Building Permit Hub with existing local government permitting systems, which will be an essential part of the process given cities like Kelowna, Burnaby, Surrey, Coquitlam, and the City of Vancouver have dropped the better part of $2M on their own systems re zoning – and have already invested millions of dollars in their own permitting systems.
User feedback will be essential. The association is interested to hear back from builders working in Burnaby, City of Langley, City of North Vancouver, and Maple Ridge, and with the Musqueam Indian Band, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation as phase 1 is rolled out to better understand the ability of the system to manage customizations, and if this is new homogenized approach will add a layer of complication or will it truly expedite the process.
2025 – Complete Roll Out
The complete roll out is planned for by spring 2025, where digital permits will be available for all housing types, with automated Building Code compliance checks for the parts of the Building Code that cause the most confusion and delays, plus additional features based on user feedback.
As the industry looks for housing solutions, HAVAN will be monitoring the uptake and review of the province’s new homogenized process. Let’s hope this system is nimble and can manage the customization of builds required to meet our housing needs.
HAVAN continues to work with CHBA BC and CHBA to advocate for all levels of government to work together to address the challenges of the housing industry including zoning restrictions, density limits, and NIMBYism.
Looking to stay up-to-date on Metro Vancouver’s residential housing industry? Sign up for Ron’s weekly Monday Morning Briefing and other HAVAN emails here.
QUICK BITES …
- The Journal of Commerce reports on the looming economic impact of the cost of building today, quoting CHBA BC CEO Neil Moody. High interest rates, tougher lending rules, and higher building costs all add up, noting the digitalized HUB is a step in the right direction.
- Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail reports Vancouver is seeing spike in foreclosures of smaller developers.
- The Bank of Canada’s first interest rate cut in over four years this past Wednesday to 4.75% from 5% will have a “psychological” impact on the Canadian housing market, but will likely not be enough to meaningfully improve affordability, experts say, as per Global News.
- Anthem Properties’ Michael Ferreira is quoted in Real Estate News Exchange on the state of Vancouver’s soft condo market suggesting there will need to be two or three quarter-point interest rate cuts by the end of the year to give investors sufficient confidence to consider buying condos again. “The investor is still being made out to be the bad guy in all of this, but they are really necessary,” Ferreira said. “If we can’t get our pre-sales, we’re not going to get the project financing and no housing is going to get built.”
- May Greater Vancouver Real Estate Stats are out with sales down over 19% year on year.
- Inventory continues to build as buyers remain on the fence, as per the latest Fraser Valley real Estate May stats.
