BC’s New Housing Legislation, Passed With Little Debate, Worries Strata Owners

Various condo projects under construction in Langford, B.C., on Oct. 22, 2021. The Canadian Press/Chad Hipolito

Two bills pushed through with little debate by B.C. Premier David Eby’s NDP government during the last few days of the legislative session in November are intended to solve the province’s housing shortage and affordability problems, including high rental costs.

However, the new laws have many owners of condos and other strata housing worried.

Bill 43, the Housing Supply Act, and Bill 44, the Building and Strata Statutes Amendment Act, which aim to increase B.C.’s housing supply by ending rental and age restrictions and requiring certain municipalities to meet housing targets, were introduced on Nov. 21 and passed into law on Nov. 24 after debate was subjected to time limits.

The legislation is the NDP’s answer to B.C.’s longstanding housing shortages and affordability issues. In particular, Vancouver leads the country with the steepest monthly costs, where currently the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $3,598 per month.

Wendy Wall, president of the Vancouver Island Strata Owners Association (VISOA), says VISOA has been flooded with calls from members ever since Eby announced his housing plans on Sept. 28, before he assumed his role as premier. She said the changes to strata laws won’t achieve the desired results and could make housing worse.

“Everybody agreed we need more housing and that there’s a shortage of rental housing. What they were trying to communicate when they wrote their MLAs was this isn’t the solution,” Wall said in an interview. “Taking away the ability for strata corporations to make their own democratic bylaws was not going to fix housing.”

The Housing Supply Act will give the housing minister authority to set housing targets for specific municipalities that have the greatest demand and fastest growth. Those targets may include housing availability and affordability. A municipality subjected to a housing target order must prepare progress reports, and if it doesn’t meet the target or make enough progress, the provincial government can require it to take certain actions to meet the target or do so on its behalf.

The Building and Strata Statutes Amendment Act removes strata corporations’ ability to restrict or prohibit the rental of their strata lots, such as condos, and also disallows them from passing bylaws to impose age restrictions.

“Bill 44 in particular, which impacts strata rental and age restrictions, will affect one million British Columbians who live in stratas—but the NDP won’t let us debate the potential unintended consequences which could include strata insurance rates continuing to skyrocket,” Opposition House Leader Todd Stone said in a Nov. 24 BC Liberals press release.

The Ministry of Housing defended the legislation in an email to The Epoch Times.

“To help deliver more good homes for people, the Province introduced new laws to build the homes people need, make it possible for homes that are vacant to be rented and remove discriminatory age and rental restrictions in stratas that hurt young families,” the ministry said.

“The Housing Supply Act ... will provide government with the ability to set housing targets in communities where there is an identified need for more housing. Municipalities will be encouraged to do all they can to create conditions that allow developers and builders to create new housing, including reviewing their zoning bylaws and streamlining development approval processes.”

It added that the ministry supports “municipalities’ ability to determine what the housing will look like—but not whether housing gets built in a community.”

Both the B.C. Green Party and the BC Liberals criticized the NDP for imposing time limits on debate and invoking closure in order to end debate on bills, and forcing a vote on all of the legislation they introduced.

‘Not Going to Fix Housing’

Wall said the government used data collected from its speculation and vacancy tax exemption applications in recent years to calculate what it suspects are strata units that are vacant and available for rent. But many of those units are used for short-term rentals such as airbnbs, and many stratas already allow up to half of their units to be used for long-term rentals.

One of her main concerns is the effect on fixed-income seniors or first-time homebuyers who must now compete with investors and developers.

“Many of these [condo and townhouse] properties, when they had no rentals, investors and developers were not interested,” she said.

“Now we’re looking at a bunch of property that has the lowest price point on the market. To me, those are the units where we want our first-time homebuyers and our seniors who are downsizing to get into. … [But] now they’re going to be competing with investors who are now interested and can rent them out.”

Young Anderson Barristers and Solicitors said in a bulletin to clients that the province’s intervention in the matter of housing is precedent-setting.

“In general, Bill 43 is a clear indication from the Province of its willingness to intervene in matters that have in recent history been entirely within the jurisdiction of local governments, for the purpose of achieving provincial goals in relation to housing,” Young Anderson said.

Owner-Occupier Condos Versus Rentals

Victoria resident and condo owner Joanne Thibault echoed Wall’s observations. She told The Epoch Times that the new housing legislation likely won’t create rental space since most owners buy homes because they want to live in them.

Moreover, once investors start buying the homes and the pool of strata unit owner-occupiers begins to deplete, she sees fewer residents willing to tend gardens, shovel snow, or approve upgrades an owner-occupier community would typically endorse.

“Because we live here, these are our own, and we don’t mind investing the $100,000 necessary to put on a new building envelope,” Thibault said.

“If there are at least 25 percent of the units that are now converted to rentals, because the new owners are investors and they just want to rent those units out, they’ll have absolutely no appetite to invest in the top-quality repairs that owner-occupier strata buildings normally go with.”

The Ministry of Housing said in its email that Bill 44 came from a B.C. Rental Housing Task Force recommendation in December 2018, which said “key strata partners were also consulted, including strata homeowner associations and strata property management associations.”

The task force’s recommendations and findings document, however, made no mention of consulting these associations, although it did say it hosted 11 community meetings around the province and also allowed input through online discussions and email.

Wall said VISOA was never contacted, and Thibault said the government has ignored all of her outreach.

The BC Liberals have charged Eby and his government with thwarting democracy after Eby pushed through bills 43 and 44 as well as seven other bills during the last four days of the fall session.

“While the fall legislative session has ended, the David Eby era of stifling debate and eroding democracy to suit his own needs has begun,” the party said in its Nov. 24 release.