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What Proven Solutions
exist?
The Dos and Don'ts of Housing Solutions
in One Place for Media, Public, Academics, Builders, Urban Planners
& Governments.
Cut Taxes, Fees and Red Tape Regulations on Home Builders and Rental Providers...
Did you know builders wait 250 days to get a "construction permit" in Canada, three times slower than the US? 👀
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Most people don’t realize how complicated and expensive building or renovating a home has become. Government building codes and regulations have grown so large, costly and complex that they are now a major barrier to housing.
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The BC government rules 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.
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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.
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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 our video for details.
Share if you care.
Regulatory
Onslaught
Rethink Accessibility Rules
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The BC Government rolled back a requirement that 100% of all housing built be accessible for those with mobility challenges after architects warned that could add $75,000 in costs per home. Rooms, like bedrooms, kitchens or bathrooms must be made larger to accommodate wheelchairs or walkers.
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A more measured policy would be to ensure a smaller percentage of new apartments can be made adaptable for wheelchairs. Why make 100% of homes fully accessible when approximately 10% of Canadians have mobility challenges?
Pause on Building
Rule Changes?
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Governments are introducing new rules on accessibility, earthquake safety (seismic), and “net zero” green building regulations— without consulting builders, checking if local suppliers can keep up, or doing any proper cost analysis.
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Government's recent seismic regulations added five million in construction costs to a six-storey building, said Adam Cooper, Director of Community Planning and Development, Abstract Developments.
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BC Hydro doesn't even have the capacity to provide all the extra electricity to address government's green goal demands, say engineering experts. We import about 25% of our electrical power from the US and elsewhere annually.
California just froze addition of any new building code regulations
for the state & cities
for SIX YEARS.
Regulatory Onslaught,
says Builder
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Quadra Homes builder VP Shawn Bouchard notes the BC government's Energy Step Code (regulatory carbon reduction changes) adds as much as $25,000 in costs to each new home. “That’s gonna take 114 years to pay back on the energy savings — so why are we doing this?” he told Western Standard News.
Credit: Seismic rules cost increase chart (Storeys)
New Indigenous Heritage Act adds $20K to $80K in costs per home
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The BC government's new Heritage Act provisions to include costly Indigenous archaelogical assessments, including "intangible values" on public and private land.
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The Union of BC Municipalities claims they had no consultation on
these changes.
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"Heritage site assessments had added costs of $20,000 to $80,000 for each house in rebuilding fire-ravaged Lytton. There were delays of 18 months in getting even the most routine permits." - UBCM president, Trish Mandewo.
Video: The Long &
Short Of it!
Watch our full-length two minute video or our 30-second short to learn more about the regulatory burdens on housing and what this means to home buyers and renters. Share if you care!
More
Solutions
Here's a compilation of various solutions and advice. Click text link in each photo below for more details.
Please let us know if we've missed any.
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