'We're seeing the vacancy rates at a historic low, and we're not building at the rate of population growth. You want to talk about perfect storm; that's essentially what we have here.'
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon was on the move Thursday, driving from appointment to appointment to meet with the mayors of the Township of Langley , Langley City and Chilliwack .In his new role as the minister responsible for housing in B.C., Kahlon said he expects to be in regular touch with mayors, joking that he has already spent more time with Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim than his family.What Kahlon has heard and will continue to hear is that there are not enough affordable homes in B.C.
The question was one of several Kahlon answered in a 25-minute interview with Glacier Media on Jan. 5. What follows is a condensed and edited version of the interview, which was conducted by telephone. I'm actually heading over to Chilliwack right now to talk to the mayor there; they've got some challenges. I'm then heading to Abbotsford to talk to the mayor about their challenges. We're looking at finding those types of creative solutions wherever we can. We know that the modular housing can come online fast.
I can't give you an update on that project right now, but I certainly can get some information and get back to you. But the idea of a navigation centre is critically important to ensure that we get people into the right type of housing, into the right type of environment for them to be successful.
So it's not as simple as just building the unit, I understand that, but that is an important part of it. But it's also going to be the other piece that gives people good opportunities to get good income jobs and ensure that people who are working 40 to 50 hours a week can make enough money to be able to survive in our communities.
I heard a Vancouver city planner tell council last year that 75 per cent of newcomers to Vancouver are renters. What's your plan to address high rents and low vacancy rates in Vancouver and across the province? I want to return to your mandate letter to the part where Premier Eby pointed out 100,000 people moved to BC in 2021, setting a 50-year record. The premier expects that growth to continue. So how do you address housing supply not only for people experiencing homelessness but people from all walks of life —whether they be longtime Canadians or newcomers — seeking affordable housing?
The BC government-owned Hotel Canada is in the news this week because of the number of calls firefighters responded to at the Vancouver SRO — 504 in 2022, with 300 related to false alarms. The non-profit that manages it — Atira — is paying out a substantial amount of money in fines for the false alarms. Firefighters are frustrated. There's got to be a better approach going forward.
At this stage, I've had a couple of conversations with Mr. Hussen. What we've agreed to is coming together and trying to collaborate on how we can address this issue. So I won't say that there's going to be one specific thing that I'm going push him on. The bottom line is they need to bring dollars to the table.
I've spent some time looking at the challenges BC Housing has had. We had the Ernst and Young report, and we have a forensic audit happening now. I actually feel confident that once we have the recommendations [from the audit], that we will be implementing them. There's processes that need to be upgraded; there's systems that need to be put in place.
But again, the question asked by a lot of people is how does the government continue to allow grants for homeowners when so many others are paying high rents and just scraping by?
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