One of the solutions that many local politicians talk about when it comes to increasing the supply of housing without building towers everywhere is infill – unobtrusive additions through laneway houses, suites in existing homes, granny flats over garages, and duplexes and triplexes.
But a new analysis of infill housing in the region shows that many Lower Mainland cities make it difficult for owners and builders to create those new kinds of housing in single-family zones, with long permit times and sometimes huge fees.
And that’s a problem, because the region’s single-family housing occupies two-thirds of all the land in the Lower Mainland, making it an untapped resource, says Bob de Wit, chief executive officer of the Greater Homebuilders Association Vancouver.
“This is not the whole solution to the supply problem. For that, you need more condos, more of everything. But it is one solution,” said Mr. de Wit, whose association’s report was released Monday.
The association, which did the research for the Housing Approvals Study together with the land-records-tracking company Landcor, found that the proportion of infill projects in the region accounted for only 15.5 per cent of all new housing stock in the region in 2016. That had barely increased from 13.5 per cent in 2012.
The processing times varied wildly, from seven months in the City of Langley for an average infill project to 24 months in Langley. Processing fees ranged from $18,000 in Port Coquitlam to $61,000 in the District of North Vancouver.
Many builders end up doing straight one-for-one replacements of single-family houses when they build because of the complications, said the study.
Mr. de Wit said his organization did the research – the third year it has studied an aspect of construction processes in Lower Mainland cities – to demonstrate the difference between cities and spur them to improve their practices.
His association is recommending that all cities adopt a set of best practices in order to speed up housing approvals without sacrificing quality.
To read more, please visit: The Globe and Mail – Infill housing an untapped solution for B.C.’s supply shortage
