Kevin Falcon’s BC United Party has a four-point plan to address British Columbia’s housing crisis.
Falcon says the United to Fix Housing plan outlines bold and comprehensive measures that will bring the dream of homeownership back within reach for British Columbians.
“Under David Eby and the NDP, BC has the highest cost of living in Canada, and more British Columbians than ever have been shut out of the housing market,” Falcon claimed. “To make housing more affordable, we need to make it less expensive — it’s that simple.”
The BC United plan includes establishing a new rent-to-own program, which would require developers to set aside up to 15% of homes in participating projects for eligible first-time buyers.
“These qualified buyers will take possession and reside in the home for three years at which time the sale will officially complete,” a BC United release explains.
“During these three years, participants will pay rent at market rates, with 100 per cent of payments being applied toward their down payment — helping renters become homeowners.”
BC United is also promising to eliminate the property transfer tax up to $1 million, eliminate PST on residential construction and use empty public land to build affordable housing.
The latter would mean 99-year leases offered to non-profit and market homebuilders at $1 per year to construct below-market rental housing for families and seniors on unused public land.
Falcon says fixing BC’s housing crisis will require “bold ideas and outside-the-box thinking,” and that’s what the United to Fix Housing plan brings to the table.
“Our innovative rent-to-own program will turn renters into homeowners by converting rental payments into savings for their downpayments,” he explained. “And when we cut the property transfer tax for first-time buyers, they’ll immediately save up to $18,000 on their first home — reducing their upfront costs and further easing access into the housing market.”
Falcon adds that the elimination of the PST and promise to build affordable homes on empty government land will make it less expensive to build more residential units for families.
However, housing academic Andy Yan said the BC United housing plan and the NDP government's approach face the real and difficult issues of helping provide more affordable homes for people throughout the province.
"It's similar to the NDP that there are still underlying challenges in some of these situations," said Yan, who's the director of Simon Fraser University's City Program.
"I think the view from Victoria is a lot different from the view from Main Street. To make housing happen it's one of collaboration with multiple levels of government, especially local governments as opposed to proclamations."
The rent-to-own plan will help qualified first-time buyers who are renting a new property become homeowners through a purchase agreement where they contribute three years of rental payments towards a down payment on the same home, Falcon said.
High down payments are a stumbling block to making a home purchase for many first-time buyers in BC, he said.
"This is a very important shift from the approach the current government takes and it will mean that lots of current renters will now have an opportunity to get into the housing market and be able to actually own their own home," said Falcon, who is a former property developer.
– With files from Canadian Press
