Acquiring land near transit stops to build affordable workforce housing at those locations is an excellent idea.
Windfall profits, however, that holders of those parcels will enjoy as a consequence of this policy need to be taxed away and the proceeds earmarked to finance affordable workforce housing construction, ideally on those sites.
B.C. could exercise eminent domain to acquire these properties, and compensate those holders in the amount of the market price of those parcels minus 100% of the appreciation resulting from the announcement of this policy; but it is probably easier and faster in the long run to tax those economic rents than to fight eminent domain battles in the courts.
On a related matter, low-interest loans to for-profit developers to build purpose-built workforce rental housing should be treated as a last resort and issued with covenants strictly stipulating that: (a) initial rents demanded upon completion be a function of the cost of construction – including an agreed, reasonable margin, not “market rate”; and (b) intertenancy rent increases on those units are prohibited, with appeals on the basis of necessary repairs available to the RTB.
But the days of financial predation are over. Finance capital has had a nice, long 40-year run. It has thoroughly impoverished our health-care system and many other sectors and driven the cost of living, with its consequent upward pressure on wages and prices, through the roof.
It is good to hear that someone in government picked up on the idea of developing a catalogue of uncomplicated, reusable, community-friendly designs using practical, durable, environmentally friendly materials to minimize the cost and accelerate the rollout of a massive buildout of affordable housing.
Government needs to make clear that “affordable” housing means reasonably priced housing for everyone. “Shelter,” at 26.8% of CPI, is the primary long-term driver of inflation in Canada. “Affordable” housing is not housing for poor people. It is essential to the viability of our economy.
Finally, government needs to define clearly what it means when it uses the term “middle class.” These words mean different things to different people.
Using housing as a vehicle to extract as much wealth from the productive economy as possible has created a crisis that must not be used to further entrench the rentier class that brought us here.
Bill Appledorf
Victoria
