Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals pulled off an election result that was reminiscent of a classic [North] Hollywood underdog story – a federal party recording some of their lowest poll results ever just a few short months ago, to a minority government win last week. It was also a surprise when Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre lost his own seat in the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton and will now run in a byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot in central Alberta. With the election dust now settled, the work needs to begin.
From the removal of GST on homes up to $1million to the federal investment for municipal infrastructure to cut DCCs in half for multi-unit residential housing for the next five years, our residential construction needs these promises to materialize quickly. In his first post-election speech, Prime Minister Mark Carney emphasized the priority to ramp up residential construction, and spoke about building an entirely new Canadian housing industry by promoting modular and prefab homes, and create a new entity called “Build Canada Homes” to do this and to provide private developers with up to $25 billion in financing. A minority government may prove to be an important way to ensure the Liberals remain accountable to Canadians and their promises, and hope – at least for the immediate future – to see collaboration between Liberals and parliament’s other parties to move the country forward.
Late last week, BC Premier David Eby sent a letter to the Prime Minister, offering congratulations on the election win, and looking forward to closer partnerships with federal leadership, and outlined BC’s top priorities, including housing. “We value Canada’s collaboration on BC housing programs and look forward to continued cooperation including renewing the National Housing Strategy framework to bolster made-in-BC programs, expanding housing-enabling infrastructure for our growing communities, build more deeply affordable homes…,” remarks Eby in the letter.
So what does that mean for our local region?
With last month’s release of Metro Vancouver’s Regional Housing Needs Report, the regional government reported that new housing development needs to double to address regional housing pressures. Over the past five years the region has seen an annual average addition of 23,424 housing units, primarily condominiums and apartments. But to meet the housing target numbers by 2050, the annual average rate needs to increase to 37,757 units annually until 2041 – seemingly an impossible goal as our larger-volume builders in the region have hit pause on many projects due to compounding pressures, with the uptake of smaller density projects like Small Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) slower than expected. Dropped levels of consumer confidence in the face of economic uncertainty has hit across the housing spectrum.
Bold moves need to happen if we are to ever have a chance to get close to these targets, and this requires all levels of government to examine policies, systems, and fees, to unlock housing.
CHBA National commissioned its National Municipal Benchmarking Study (3rd edition), delivered by The Altus Group, which was released in March. Unfortunately, the report was overshadowed by the implementation of the U.S. tariffs.
The study “ compares 23 Canadian municipalities, examining how their processes, approvals timelines, and charges and fees contribute to housing affordability and supply issues in major housing markets across Canada. The report reads as a report card to show which municipal governments are leading in which of the three pillars of the study—planning system features, approval timelines and government charges.”
In the report, three local municipalities – Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey – were included and benchmarked against other regions across Canada. It is a chance to look at best practices. Data was collected between 2022 and 2024.
OVERALL RANKING
Of the 23 municipalities scored, the top three municipalities (overall) were Edmonton, Halifax and London (Ontario) for having only moderately high municipal fees, faster timelines, and planning features. In our region, here is how Surrey, Vancouver and Burnaby scored.
#10: Surrey (linked to view summary report on Surrey)
Surrey ranked in the Top 10 of municipalities that participated in this study.
- Planning features (application preparation, application submission, application tracking): Overall score 71%
- Municipal charges: $95,300/unit (lowrise); $38,100/unit (highrise)
- Approval timelines: 5.9 months – down from 13.8 months in 2022 (estimated typical approval timelines for development applications)
- Indirect costs due to delays: $5,069/unit/month (lowrise); $2,555/unit/month (highrise)
HAVAN Follow-up: HAVAN met with Surrey planning staff before this report was released and discussed their current work utilizing AI to advance the application process, the surety bond pilot program, the number of projects ready to build but not pulling permits, their alignment with provincial timelines for Step Code and Zero Carbon Code adaptation, and building on engagement opportunities with industry. HAVAN will continue working with Surrey City staff and elected officials to promote solutions for housing delivery.
#16: Burnaby (linked to view summary report on Burnaby)
Burnaby had the highest municipal charges of the municipalities in the study.
- Planning features (application preparation, application submission, application tracking): Overall score 52%
- Municipal charges: $103,400/unit (lowrise); $51,800/unit (highrise)
- Approval timelines: 15.9 months – down from 20.9 months in 2022 (estimated typical approval timelines for development applications)
- Indirect costs due to delays: $6284/unit/month (lowrise); $6809/unit/month (highrise)
HAVAN Follow-up: HAVAN will be engaging with planning staff in the near future to discuss the challenges in Burnaby, and advocate for solutions to bring housing forward.
#17: Vancouver (linked to view summary report on Vancouver)
Vancouver fell from 12th place in the 2022 study to 17th place in the 2024 study but is introducing some zoning reforms and process improvements that may help its ranking in the next study.
- Planning features (application preparation, application submission, application tracking): Overall score 71%
- Municipal charges: $104,300/unit (lowrise); $30,900/unit (highrise)
- Approval timelines: 7.7 months from 15.2 months in 2022 (estimated typical approval timelines for development applications)
- Indirect costs due to delays: $6309.unit/month (lowrise); $6855/unit/month (highrise)
HAVAN Follow-up: HAVAN met with City of Vancouver building and planning senior staff in mid-April to have ongoing discussions on their initiatives such as 3-3-3-1, zoning changes, participation in the SSMUH program, and their work on the development/building development processes to move approvals faster through the system.
Next Steps
This benchmark study notes that the reports are independent of engagement and cooperation between industry and the featured municipalities. In fact, increased engagement from many of the municipalities allowed for a more robust data collection process.
HAVAN has shared the report with the three municipalities’ staff, as it provides an opportunity for open dialogue and collaboration to identify bottlenecks, onerous processes, and work together on housing delivery solutions. Together with our Government Relations Committee, and our colleagues at the provincial and national tiers of this Association, HAVAN continues its efforts (front-facing and behind-the-scenes) to advocate for consistency, predictability, and transparency with government.
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 Wendy’s weekly Monday Morning Briefing and other HAVAN emails here.
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