Federal, provincial and municipal regulations are impacting housing unaffordability.
In C.D. Howe Institute “Gimme Shelter: How High Municipal Housing Charges and Taxes Decrease Housing Supply”, Benjamin Dachis notes that:
Taxes and charges on new and existing homes are a key driver of the cost and supply of affordable homes for Canadians. Ranging from development charges imposed upfront on developers, to land transfer taxes, or murky density bonus payments, they have the effect of reducing supply and hiking home prices for would-be buyers. Reforms are needed.
Channel is in the trenches working on projects to start to address housing unaffordability.
We recently concluded an important project for a diligent private equity client from Toronto. Our team enabled the development manager and investment team to make informed decisions by
– preparing a thorough regulatory review of options to move the project forward considering City and provincial policy frameworks,
– leading direct discussions with staff at the City, BC Housing, Provincial Housing Policy team, CMHC, UDI, and land economists to confirm alternative options
– making specific recommendations and delivering high quality submissions to the Provincial Housing Policy team, City staff and the City Council’s Planning and Development Committee, and UDI, to ensure stakeholders were informed of how policy was impacting the project and “must” policy updates to unlock housing supply for middle income families
The project has the potential to turn the tide on the Housing Unaffordability Problem.
Our first-hand experience is that federal, provincial and municipal regulations are impacting housing unaffordability. For example:
– The Province currently allows municipal Councils to prioritize community benefits over housing affordability.
OCPs and zoning bylaws consistently under-value the potential of a site for intensive use, without consideration of urban land economics
– Public hearings give residents as say in whether local community benefits are more important than affordable places for people to live.
– Across most of BC, Canada and the world, governments rely on opinions of registered professionals, whereas in the Lower Mainland, internal subject matter experts review and comment on reports prepared by registered professionals. This adds significant delays and costs for projects.
Channel brings strategic leadership to assessing land development feasibility, government engagement, and development management.
We typically work for private developers, non-profit organizations, and governments on all types of projects (residential, office, industrial, or government infrastructure). Channel works closely with municipal staff and Councils, provincial and federal permitting staff, and Indigenous groups.In real estate the key risks are:
– development approvals,
– construction costs, and
– absorption.
In Vancouver real estate, poor management of development approvals risks is the norm.
Sophisticated clients invite us to manage approvals risk on all types of projects by:
– preparing due diligence reports,
– engaging staff and council, and
– ensuring quality submissions that are easily approved (without the cost and delays of iterations of comments)
Clients consistently tell us that they feel proud of what they accomplish working with us. The incredible quality of our work gets results and saves projects time and money.
Our passion is in supporting people in every profession and sector in real estate development and land use, from all over the world, in every career stage.