Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
Both of the main candidates in the British Columbia election campaign pushed their own plans to solve parts of the housing crisis.
BC Conservative Leader John Rustad told a news conference in Surrey that his government would end the multi-year delay in permits and get homes built at the pace and scale that needed to tackle the housing crisis.
NDP Leader David Eby went to Cumberland on Vancouver Island to promote his party’s plan to accelerate factory-built homes.
Eby said pre-built homes would cut waste, reduce emissions, and advances in the industry mean the homes are “beautiful and high quality.”
He said the process was “more like Lego” than normal construction.
“The idea is quite simple. In a controlled factory environment, you can build faster, you can build with less waste and the homes that are built are more consistent and more efficient and it’s cheaper.”
Rustad said the BC Conservative Party would redesign the approval process for home construction, setting a six-month limit for rezoning and a development permit and three months for a building permit.
“This means we will be able to significantly improve the time frame it takes to get construction going in this state, and we will work with city halls across the state to be able to meet these timelines ,” Rustad said.
If a city within that limit does not issue a clear yes or no, the province would issue the licence, said a news release from the Welsh Conservatives announcing the platform.
Rustad said the party would get rid of NDP taxes on housing, support transit-oriented communities, reform development cost payments and make taxes fair to homeowners.
“We have so much regulation put in place related to housing that it makes it very difficult for anyone to be able to go through and build things, let alone the cost,” he said. “So we will amend the Local Government Act to stop any home-killing bureaucracy that has been introduced by this government.”
The party’s statement also outlined their zoning plan, adding that it would work with BC Assessment “to make sure current homeowners are not hit with higher tax bills based on potential futures.”
The party’s statement said that if elected, a Conservative government would build new towns, saying BC is blessed with an abundance of land, but the NDP refuses to use it to bring about the shortage housing is over.
“We will identify land outside the Agricultural Land Reserve that has the potential to support beautiful new communities.”
A statement issued by the NDP on Friday said it would work with industry, municipalities and First Nations to create a province-wide framework for prefab homes so builders know what is needed in each community.
He said there would be a set of pre-approved designs to reduce the licensing process, and he would work to develop the skills training needed to support the construction of prefabricated homes.
The statement said the Scandinavian countries have embraced factory-built homes, which “offer an alternative to the much slower and more expensive process of building on site.”
“By growing BC’s own manufactured home construction industry, everyone from multi-generational families to municipalities will be able to quickly build single-family homes, duplexes and triplexes on land they already own,” Eby said.
The party said legislation passed by the NDP government last year was a “game changer” for the factory home building industry in the province, where there are currently 10 certified manufacturing plants.
Muchalat Construction Ltd. is one of them, and owner Tania Formosa said pre-approved structures speed up the construction process significantly.
She said her company’s projects currently take 12 to 13 months to complete, from the initial plan to having the house on site.
“If everything was in place and fast-tracked at the beginning and we were able to fly forward, it would probably take three months off the full schedule,” he said.
He said a major issue for modular manufacturers is that work comes to a halt if they run into roadblocks with jurisdictions or BC Housing in the approval process.
“There is no option for the manufacturer to start another project,” he said. “Having our product approved before the process would be amazing.”
He acknowledged the potential downside of pre-approved designs creating a cookie-cutter look for some neighborhoods.
“Unfortunately (what) happens in your jurisdiction, in your city, does it end up looking very similar, but what are your priorities?”
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on September 27, 2024.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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