In August 2016, UBCM established a Special Committee on Housing to identify ways to make housing more affordable for people who live, work and contribute to BC’s communities. The Committee considered potential federal and provincial actions and supports, in addition to opportunities for voluntary local government action, recognizing that local governments cannot tackle the housing crisis alone.
The Committee met monthly from August 2017 to January 2018 and released its final report A Home for Everyone: A Housing Strategy for British Columbians on February 1, 2018.
The report contains 32 recommendations structured around four policy shifts:
- A Rental Housing Strategy to help address a deficit in rental housing built up through decades of policy priority on homeownership.
- A Demand Management Strategy with taxation measures to stabilize prices and restore affordability.
- A Comprehensive Homeless Strategy to substantially reduce the number of people who are homeless.
- An All Government Approach towards Housing Affordability, through which all orders of government collaborate at a community level to bring about community-appropriate change.
The analysis and recommendations in this report have remained a guiding framework for UBCM’s policy and advocacy together with recently endorsed resolutions. A summary of recommendations is available.