FAQS
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Homes Not Bank Machines ?
Homes Not Bank Machines is a Canadian housing affordability advocacy site that argues government taxes, fees, and regulations are a major driver of high home prices and rents, especially in Vancouver and Toronto areas. Policy changes would reduce these costs and speed up building approvals. Below is a short, plain-language Frequently Asked Questions about this website.
Why Are Homes So Unaffordable ?
A large share of the cost of new homes comes from government taxes, fees, charges, and regulations, which can reach roughly one third of the price or more in some cities.
How Do Government Fees, Taxes & Rules Affect Home & Rent Prices?
Builders must pay these fees upfront on every new project, and those costs are then built into the final sale price or rent paid by homebuyers and renters. Thousands of pages of "red tape rules" add building delays and hundreds of thousands in costs.
Can You Give an Example of These Costs?
Cities like Vancouver and Toronto have hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit going to various levels of government through development charges and related fees, about a third of the cost and growing.
Are Builders to Blame for These High Costs ?
Instead of blaming “greedy builders,” put the blame where it belongs, the growing share of costs driven by governments and passed on to buyers and renters.
What Do You Mean by Red Tape ?
The BC government building code rules (red tape) are 1,908 pages long -- a stack 8 inches or 23 cm high. On top are various civic building requirements that also conflict with one another, because different government departments don't coordinate. An East Vancouver home builder’s viral tweet thread shows city staff highlighted the costs passed to consumers when city staff required an expensive arborist (tree expert) report for a simple bathroom renovation. Ontario Building Code's legal "summary" is a whopping 664 pages but the whole Code is 2,262 pages. This is almost Guinness World Record length for longest book — 2,400 pages. Compare this to 1976, when Canada built the most housing ever at 273,200. Back then, the national building code was only 198 pages long! Watch the video for more....
What Top Three Housing Helpers Could Fix our Affordability Crisis?
The three main solutions are: reduce government housing taxes and fees, remove rent controls on new buildings, and speed up approvals by cutting red tape.
How Does Rent Control Impact Housing ?
Rent control on new buildings discourages construction and maintenance and ultimately hurts renters by limiting the supply of affordable homes.
Where are all the taxes and fees on builders going?
High executive pay at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and dividend payments to the federal government are signs that housing-related revenues are being used to fund large bureaucracies.
Are Governments Really Building Homes or Bureacracies ?
It says governments do not actually build homes themselves and that people can only live in completed homes, not in government “plans,” “targets,” or “announcements.”
How Can People Get Involved ?
Visitors are encouraged to learn about the issues, share information on social media, engage with content from builders, tax experts, and academics, and share their own ideas by email or online.
