Recent polls show that housing affordability remains the top issue for British Columbians. But what should the key housing priorities be for local governments, and how can they navigate housing challenges in such a fiscally constrained environment?
Authorized by British Columbia Real Estate Association, registered sponsor under the Election Act, 604-683-7702.
The BC Real Estate Association (BCREA) is an independent, non-partisan source for housing information, delivering research-backed analysis during election season and beyond.
See below for BCREA’s recommendations that local candidates can adopt to improve housing attainability in their communities.
Local election campaigns often include all-candidates meetings, community forums, and other opportunities for voters to hear directly from candidates. The following questions can help REALTORS® and the public better understand where candidates stand on housing issues and encourage meaningful discussion about policies that can improve housing attainability, increase housing supply, and support complete communities.
Establishing a Regional Housing Policy Roundtable:
Unlocking Local Prefabricated Housing Potential:
For more information, read Government Relations at BCREA: Why We Do What We Do.
Resources:
The Problem:
Municipal governments play a critical role in housing supply, yet housing challenges do not stop at municipal boundaries. Residents often live, work, study, and access services across regional communities, and housing pressures tend to be regional.
There are few formal mechanisms for ongoing regional collaboration with those directly involved in delivering housing, and the housing sector faces variability across municipal zoning bylaws, creating inconsistency, duplication, and unintended barriers to new housing. However, if housing providers could scale across multiple communities under consistent rules, those efficiencies would translate directly into lower per-unit costs, making homes more affordable for buyers and renters.
Local housing policy decisionmakers would benefit from a more structured, ongoing forum for regional collaboration. Mayors and councillors will continue to be asked to make consequential decisions on housing supply, and these decisions should be informed by experts working directly across the housing continuum.
Without a regional forum for practical, evidence-based discussion, housing policy risks becoming fragmented across neighbouring communities. A lack of coordination can make it harder to deliver the right housing forms in the right places align infrastructure with growth, and build complete communities.
Recommendation:
BC REALTORS® recommend that municipal candidates support the creation of a regional housing policy roundtable after the 2026 local government elections.
A regional housing policy roundtable would bring together stakeholders and experts to identify barriers and develop practical, regionally appropriate housing solutions. The roundtable would not replace council decision-making authority. Rather, it would provide a structured advisory forum to help elected officials better understand housing conditions, pressure-test potential policy changes, and improve coordination across neighbouring communities.
The roundtable should be designed to remain practical, focused, and manageable. A suggested structure could include:
This flexible structure would allow the roundtable to remain general enough for any region in BC while still being adaptable to local needs.
Purpose of the Roundtable:
The purpose of the roundtable would be to:
Potential Areas of Focus:
In addition to region-specific housing topics, a regional housing policy roundtable could advise on issues such as:
No single municipality can solve its housing crisis alone. Housing policy works best when it is coordinated, evidence-based, and informed by those working across the housing continuum.
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Resources:
The Problem:
As voters consider local leadership in the upcoming municipal elections, candidates should be prepared to explain how they will use municipal tools to support more housing options, for more people, in more places. With average provincial home prices now exceeding $925,000, homeownership is beyond the reach of many British Columbians. Improving housing attainability and supporting healthy community growth will require all levels of government to prioritize increasing housing supply and doubling the rate of home completions. This will require innovative methods and approaches.
Prefabricated housing offers a proven tool to address several challenges facing traditional construction, including slow timelines, high costs, supply chain disruptions, and labour shortages. Factory construction methods can significantly reduce build times, cut construction waste by up to 70 to 80 per cent, lower greenhouse gas emissions by up to 43 per cent, and bring project costs down by as much as 20 per cent.
While many local governments experience financial and resource constraints in promoting housing supply, they also have direct authority and influence over several barriers affecting housing delivery, including amending zoning bylaw requirements, streamlining development and permitting, and building public understanding and support. Despite the well-understood benefits of prefabricated housing, scaling the industry in BC is currently constrained by systemic barriers at all government levels. Common local government barriers to prefabricated housing include:
Recommendations:
BC REALTORS® recommend prioritizing the following policy initiatives to reduce local barriers to scaling prefabricated housing solutions in BC:
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