Premier David Eby Tuesday (Aug. 20) said a new student housing complex worth more than $500 million at UBC-Vancouver will help free rental housing across Metro Vancouver. But the political opposition questions government's ability to deliver the project, with some accusing the government of abandoning the search for affordable house.
"One of the great things about working with post-secondary institutions is that they are able to get this housing built quickly and the impact of this housing is very significant in the immediate area, in the case of UBC across the Lower Mainland, in freeing up rental housing in other parts of the community by having students live on campus instead of rental housing off campus," Eby said. "There is a double-word score when we do this work."
He made these comments Tuesday (Aug. 20) in announcing the $560-million project. B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, UBC President Benoit-Antoine Bacon joined in announcing what was described as the largest provincial investment in student housing and the largest capital investment on any UBC campus in its history.
The provincial contribution will be $300 million, while the university will contribute another $260 million. Construction is scheduled to get underway in the fall of 2026 with the first rooms set to open in the fall of 2028.
The complex — which consists of five buildings ranging from eight to 18 storeys — also includes a 400-seat dining hall and 37 childcare spaces.
"While this announcement today is the biggest in the history of UBC and in the history of the province at our largest university both by student population and government program area, it's far from the only (student) housing announcement," he said, pointing to various projects.
"We are on target and we are going to hit our target of building 8,000 beds in student housing within 10 years," Eby said. "We reached that goal four years early...and because of our strong partnership with colleges and universities across the province we have been able to work together to increase that goal to 12,000 beds by 2028 and today's announcement is part of that work," he said.
Government figures released as part of Tuesday's announcement show 10,766 student beds being built across the province, with 5,260 of those already open.
Eby framed current investments into student housing generally as part of his government's response to the broader housing crisis across B.C.
"In addition to this initiative, we are not letting up on housing on any front," Eby said in pointing to legislation limiting short-term rentals, preserving existing rental stock, increasing density and speeding up development. B.C. is also leading the country in new rental housing construction, he added. "We are slowly starting to turn the corner on this incredibly challenging issue," Eby said, adding that rental rates are coming down in Metro Vancouver and across B.C.
"Not anywhere near enough," he said. "We got a lot more to do, but we are getting there and we can't afford to give up now. We got to do more and we won't stop until the job is done."
Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad said the B.C. NDP under Eby has a "horrible" track record on affordable housing. “While any investment in student housing is welcome, the NDP government’s track record on major projects raises serious doubts about their ability to deliver this initiative on time and on budget," he said. He specifically pointed to recent reporting around a government-supported housing project touted as affordable but charging rents in excess of $4,000 per month. "We will be closely monitoring this project to ensure it doesn’t follow the same troubled path as so many others under this government.”
B.C. Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau said B.C. generally needs more student housing, but questions the motivation behind today's announcement. "I would like to see government announcements be focused on providing equitable services and amenities across the province and often what we see during elections are governments in their last weeks making big announcements that look a whole lot like campaign announcements," Furstenau said.
Another question concerns the affordability of those units. Bacon said UBC historically aims to keep rents 20 per cent below-market rates, but acknowledged it is difficult to anticipate final figures for 2028. "But I would hazard it (monthly rent) would be somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000," he said.
Furstenau said housing is affordable when it costs less than 30 per cent of income. "There is no way that 20 per cent below market rent is affordable to the average student of any kind," she said. "They (government) has abandoned the idea that government has a role to play in ensuring that there is actually truly affordable housing."
Tuesday's announcement also revived a long-running back-and-forth between the B.C. NDP and B.C. United, the former B.C. Liberals. Eby said during the announcement that his government is "catching up" when it comes to building student housing. "In 16 years, the previous government built 130 units of student housing," Eby said.
B.C. United responded by re-issuing a release that said B.C. Liberals built 9,000 units of student housing between 2001 and 2017.
