Each New Resident Requires $80,039 in New Public Infrastructure in Metro Vancouver

When building a new home, there are costs for construction, including land, materials, and labour. There is also the cost of providing public infrastructure to the home and the people who live in it. The Metro Vancouver Regional District recently commissioned a study to determine the amount of provincial and local infrastructure required per household and per capita to support population growth in our region.

The per capita cost is $80,039. The per-household cost varies by density. For lower-density housing, such as detached homes, the new infrastructure cost is $272,568 per unit. For medium-density housing such as townhomes, the new infrastructure cost is $242,339 per unit. And for higher-density housing such as apartments, the new infrastructure cost is $152,535 per unit.

Local governments in our region are responsible for about 60% of the infrastructure required for new homes, with the remian 40% delivered by the provincial government.

In Langley City, we charge fees for each new housing unit to help cover some of these infrastructure costs. The total local government fees and contributions for a new apartment are around $50,000 per unit. For a detached home, it is around $80,000 per unit. The costs are nowhere near the cost of providing the infrastructure.

Table of infrastructure considered in the study. Select the table to enlarge.

A simple suggestion might be to increase the fees for building new homes. For example, to reach a break-even point, the City and region would have to charge an additional $40,000 in fees per new apartment unit, raising the fee from $50,000 to $90,000 per unit. Of course, this would affect housing affordability.

Local governments do rely on property taxes and user fees as well. We also have aging infrastructure in all municipalities. Generally, property taxes and user fees are used to fund the renewal of existing infrastructure and to support ongoing municipal operations, such as police officers, firefighters, and people who maintain our parks.

Another suggestion might be to increase property taxes and user fees to pay for new infrastructure. This would also have affordability implications.

While property taxes, user fees, and municipal fees charged for each new housing unit will need to increase, the federal government has a role to play. They really do need to step up and increase federal funding for the infrastructure required to support population growth.

There are some limitations to the data, including regional variations in costs. For more information, please read the Regional Planning Committee Regular July 2, 2026 agenda starting on page 168.

Addressing Homelessness with Coordinated Access in Langley

On Tuesday afternoon, Langley City Council received a presentation from Kyle Mellish of the Lu'ma Native Housing Society and Warren Chan, who is part of the federal government’s Reaching Home homelessness strategy. They were talking about coordinated access.

It is a fair statement that decisions over the last 30-plus years, as governments and society have led to more people experiencing homelessness, mental health crises, and addiction. It will take at least a generation to resolve these multiple crises, but this does not mean we should give up. The solutions are well-known.

One of the significant barriers is that our current system is fragmented, with multiple service providers, including BC Housing, provincial ministries, federal ministries, health authorities, and non-profits, each with mandates to support people experiencing homelessness. We tend to use the term “entering the system,” but it really is a collection of services. It means that people routinely fall through the cracks, and communities don’t receive the right mix of services to help them. This is where coordinated access helps.

Mr. Mellish shared that the coordinated access really has two purposes. One is to provide data about the services required and delivered in a community at a higher level. The other is to ensure that each person in the coordinated access system has a clear path forward to accessing the actual supports they need, as governments, housing authorities, health authorities, and non-profits work together.

As you could imagine, getting all these organizations together and the data system connected is a big effort.

So, where are we at in Langley City?

Earlier this year, the coordinated access system launched in Langley with Stepping Stone, Lookout Society, Encompass Support Services, and other non-profit organizations that received funding from the federal government’s Reaching Home program. Data is starting to flow into the system, but there are gaps as more organizations need to come on board.

BC Housing will be connecting to the system shortly. At the meeting, I raised that the Salvation Army Gateway of Hope would seem to be an important organization to have connected with the coordinated access system, as they operate services for people experiencing homelessness, such as the shelter.

The next step in the coordinated access approach that I’m excited about is the actual coming together of service providers to start coordinating services with a client-first approach. This means that someone experiencing homelessness will have one case worker who will serve as their advocate, ensuring they receive the required help from multiple service providers. Mr. Mellish noted that this work is ongoing and is set to launch earlier next year in Langley.

Setting up this type of system takes a lot of work, and I’m happy to see it starting to come together in Langley. I’m looking forward to seeing how things roll out over the coming year and any impacts on helping people experiencing homelessness and the broader community.

Slow Down in New Housing Projects

Since I was first elected to Langley City Council in 2016, there has been a steady stream of housing projects, and the number of projects has been ramping up over the years. This year, I’ve noticed a decline in new projects.

While many housing projects are still under construction, new submissions have stalled. Langley City has an Advisory Design Panel, which includes experts and regular community members who provide feedback on proposed development projects. Last year, this committee reviewed about a dozen housing projects. This year, the committee has reviewed five projects to date. You might think that the number of projects seems to be tracking the same as last year, but there are a few things to consider.

For one project, the applicant decided to cancel the project. Another project was the B.C. Builds projects, funded with the help of the provincial government, low-cost land from the City, and a church providing land. The last time the Advisory Design Panel met was in April.

I heard from elected folks in other Metro Vancouver communities that new housing projects have also slowed down in their communities.

A recent report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation found that we need to double the amount of new housing built annually to restore affordability to the Canadian housing market.

The federal government has recently reduced immigration numbers. Many people thought this would allow the housing supply to “catch up.” If new housing construction is also slowing down, we may not see this “catch-up.”

Talking to home builder, they say financing costs, material and labour costs, and even the fees local government charges (which are needed) puts the price of housing above what the market can bear. These costs mean that projects are simply not moving forward.

So, what are the solutions? A few ideas come to mind that are easy to say but require more effort to implement.

The government must expand financing programs that provide low—or no-interest loans, such as the current Apartment Construction Loan Program. Modernizing construction, such as with modular housing, to reduce costs and speed up the timeline is more challenging but necessary.

While the federal government is now doing more to manage the demand for housing, we still need to “catch up” to deliver more affordable housing.

Property Tax, Development Fees, Infrastructure, and the Feds

One of the questions I get from time to time is, with new construction and increasing population, why does property tax increase?

Each new resident and business requires additional city services, such as protective services, transit, recreation, and other services, such as libraries. Inflation also drives property tax, as providing the same level of service costs more each year.

Another local government responsibility is infrastructure, including roads, water mains, sewer lines, parks, and municipal facilities such as libraries, recreation centres, and cultural centres.

While municipalities, school boards, TransLink, and the Metro Vancouver Regional District charge fees for each new development project to help support new infrastructure, these fees don't cover all the infrastructure required to support growth. The federal government has been encouraging local governments to reduce these fees because it believes the fees contribute to the cost of building new housing. I posted about this last fall.

Municiliates also need to renew or replace existing infrastructure, which is primarily funded by property tax and utility fees. The federal government and provincial governments also contribute to some of these renewal projects. Canada's existing municipal infrastructure requires significant renewal after decades of underinvestment. Local governments are responsible for about 60% of all publicly owned infrastructure in Canada.

I recently read a slide from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities stating that, on average, each housing unit in Canada requires $126,000 in local government infrastructure. We aren't collecting anywhere near that today with property tax or development fees at any local government in Canada.

So what does this mean? Local governments are playing catch up, which is why property taxes increase year-over-year in every municipality in Metro Vancouver. Rapid growth also puts a strain on local governments; there is an opportunity for the federal government to come to the table with meaningful, predictable funding to support local government infrastructure. Asking local governments to reduce fees without providing a meaningful alternative funding source doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation Affordable Housing Update

The Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation, a part of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, builds and directly manages affordable housing throughout our region. Today, it has a portfolio of 4,491 housing units, making it one of the largest affordable housing operations in the region. The Corporation's operating costs are self-funding, though funding to build new housing comes from other levels of government and the Regional District.

The Housing Corporation is currently updating its 10-year plan. There are five main areas it is looking to update.

The first area is whether it should slow down, maintain, or increase the pace of building new housing units. The pace is primarily driven by funding commitments from the federal and provincial governments.

The second area is whether the Housing Corporation should continue to partner with member municipalities and the private sector or just the private sector to deliver new housing units.

The third area is to examine the affordability and unit-mix targets for its housing. Today, the target is to have 30% of its total housing units with Rent-Geared-to-Income and 70% of its units with 2- or more bedrooms.

The fourth area is where to focus on developing new housing. For example, the Housing Corporation does not have any sites in Langley City or Township. Should the Housing Corporation focus on creating a sub-regional balance or continue its current approach on sites where opportunities present themselves?

Table showing Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation units by sub-region. Select the table to enlarge.

The final area concerns the type and scope of tenant programs and services to provide.

The Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation is well-regarded and accountable to the people of our region, as it receives limited funding through our property taxes. I am hopeful that the Corporation will continue to build on its success, increasing the number of units it can deliver, including here in Langley City.

Image Source: https://metrovancouver.org/services/housing/facility/pinewood-place

Right to Cool in Apartments and Townhouses

We have been getting more extreme heat events over the last several years. The Metro Vancouver heat dome in 2021, when over 600 people died, stands out as one of the worst climate-related incidents in Canada. In BC, newly constructed buildings must have living spaces that cannot have temperatures that exceed 26°C. This change came into effect in March last year.

Of course, many older buildings don't have cooling systems, whether they are strata or rental. Last week, elected local government representatives from across the Lower Mainland met for our annual Lower Mainland Local Government Association Conference. One part of the conference includes debating motions where we collectively would like the province or federal governments to take action. One such matter was the right to cool.

The Metro Vancouver Regional District, City of Vancouver, City of North Vancouver, and Vancouver Coast Health recently released a whitepaper called "Thermal Safety in Existing Multi-Unit Residential Buildings." One of the barriers to allowing people to install cooling systems can be strata councils and landlords.

The provincial government needs to change the Strata Property Act to allow individual owners to install active and passive cooling measures at their discretion and prevent the ability of strata councils to restrict passive or mechanical cooling or ventilation measures. At the same time, the province needs to provide a toolkit for stratas to help ensure measures are in place for the safe installation of these systems.

For rental properties, the province needs to change the Residential Tenancy Act to ensure tenants have the "right to cool," which could range from requiring landlords to allow portable or window A/C units to require retrofits of older buildings.

Elected representatives at the conference voted in favour of asking the province to take action.

Langley City and the Updated Metro Vancouver Housing Data Book

The Metro Vancouver Regional District recently released an update to its Housing Data Book, which provides a wide range of statistics about housing in our region. I wanted to look at some of the updated data.

Langley City continued to punch above its weight regarding BC Housing's non-market (subsidized) housing. BC Housing funds 6.3% of the total housing units in Langley City. Only the City of Vancouver has a higher percentage at 7.6%.

BC Housing Non-Market Housing Units (2024) as Percentage of Total Dwellings (2021 Census), Metro Vancouver

Looking further into the data, Langley and Delta have seen the fastest growth in people on the BC Housing registry. The number of non-market housing units likely needs to double region-wide, including in Langley, to help reduce the waitlist.

Growth of the BC Housing Registry (2020 to 2024) and Total Households

There is also below-market rental housing, which isn't funded by BC Housing and isn't reflected in this data.

Another interesting statistic is that Langley City has the most urban redevelopment profile of any municipality in Metro Vancouver. 98% of housing units built between 2020 and 2024 were apartments or townhomes/rowhomes. Langley City lags behind other municipalities with the construction of new purpose-built rental housing.

Multi-Unit Housing Starts as Percentage of Total Housing Starts, 2020 to 2024 (Five-Year Average), Metro Vancouver

For more information, please look at the Metro Vancouver Housing Data Book.

DASH - A Regional Approach to Speeding Up Housing Construction

Langley City is one of 11 municipalities partnering with the Metro Vancouver Regional District on its DASH - Digitally Accelerated Standardized Housing project, which is looking at ways to speed up housing construction in Metro Vancouver.

The DASH Program transformation. Selection the image to enlarge.

The initiative has three primary areas of focus to speed up housing construction: rezoning processes, municipal regulations, and off-site (modular) construction.

The first area they prepared a report on was municipal regulations. They found that all 11 municipalities that are participating have slightly different regulations when it comes to zoning that would accommodate a simple six-storey apartment building. Standardizing these regulations would enable more straightforward off-site construction, reducing design complexity and cost while increasing speed.

The proposed zoning regulation changes are simple, for example, looking at standardized heights and setbacks.

The report also looks at standardized development permit regulations, which include pedestrian access, landscaping, exterior design, building cladding, and amenity areas.

As a region, we have worked together to streamline processes such as inter-municipal business licensing and region-wide ride-hail services licensing. I'm confident we can also standardize zoning to enable off-site, modular construction of wood-frame apartments. I look forward to seeing further recommendations from the DASH project and working toward implementing these recommendations region-wide.

Please read the April 3rd Metro Vancouver Regional Planning Committee agenda for more information.

Only 2% of New Rental Units Meet Regional Affordability Measure

As the Metro Vancouver Region, we have set a goal to have 15% of new rental units in transit-oriented areas meet our affordability targets. The provincial government has set similar targets for our region.

The following tables show the affordable rental breakdown based on the number of bedrooms and median household incomes.

Number of Bedroom	Median Income Target	Affordable Rent
1 Bedroom	$60,700	$1,517
2 Bedroom	$75,350	$1,884
3 Bedroom	$90,000	$2,250
4+ Bedroom	$113,500	$2,813

98% of the 2,545 affordable housing units built between 2018 and 2023 were built by the government and non-profits (which usually rely on funding from the government.) The provincial and federal governments are responsible for funding these units.

Local government can also support affordable housing projects by contributing land, reducing development charges, creating partnerships, and having policies to encourage affordable housing units. An example in Langley City is a proposed BC Builds project (on 200th Street near 49th Avenue), a partnership between the province and the Pacific Nazarene Housing Society, where the city is contributing land.

Local government support must be balanced to ensure we aren't further driving up the cost of market units.

The data shows that the provincial and federal governments will continue to be critical in getting affordable rental units built in our region. Only 2% of housing units built between 2018-2023 were affordable for people who make the median income in our region. I believe it will require a "wartime" effort level of response, like right after World War 2 when the federal government made it a priority to ensure everyone had an affordable home.

For more information on our Metro Vancouver affordable housing targets and progress, please read the February 6th Regional Planning Committee agenda.

Strata Retrofit Program - Going Electric, Saving Money

If you live in Langley City, there is a good chance you live in a strata building, which may be older. I lived in an older building and served on its strata council for many years. Over time, we needed to replace or renew many building systems, such as hot water, lighting, and roofing. We tried to do "green" things like replacing our lights with LED, but many of the systems we replaced like for like, including our hot water system.

Many strata, even with experienced strata property managers, do not have the expertise to understand what provides the most long-term value, improves building systems, and lowers climate change impacts. The good news is there is now a program that can help stratas with retrofitting called the "Strata Energy Advisor Program."

If your building is four stories high or has more than 30 units, has an upcoming end-of-life replacement project, and uses natural gas for heating, hot water, ventilation, or fireplaces, you could qualify for free support.

For more information, check out the Strata Energy Advisor. You can sign up for a mailing list, attend a virtual seminar, or sign up for the program. You can also send this information to your strata.

The Zero Emission Innovation Centre also has programs for market rental buildings, commercial buildings, and non-profit-owned buildings. Please visit their website for more information.

Making our Community Less Lonely: Building Housing for Social Connection

While it may seem that we are more connected than ever, loneliness and isolation are rising. The pandemic showed us that no amount of technology replaces face-to-face interaction with others. Langley City is a walkable community, and we've intentionally designed our public spaces, parks, libraries, and community centres to help people connect.

Langley City is also a community where 80% of households live in apartments or townhouses. So, there is an excellent opportunity to think about how we design semi-public spaces in and around these buildings to support bringing people together. Community gardens are one of the most basic and powerful connectors I've seen. We have many community gardens in our parks and new apartment projects. Of course, we can go beyond community gardens.

SFU, Happy Cities, and Hey Neighbour Collective have been researching and developing design toolkits to help municipalities and home builders create buildings that support social connections. To be clear, this isn't about co-living, as most people also love the privacy of their own home, but it does include outdoor and indoor amenity spaces of buildings, how buildings connect with the street, lobbies, balconies, hallways, and other common spaces.

The following are the six design principles for the "Building Social Connections" toolkit.

• Location: Maximize opportunities for interaction by locating social features and spaces in convenient, visible, and prominent locations with natural light; Multiply social impact through co-location.
• Invitation: Maximize spontaneous daily encounters by designing places to pause and interact; Use the built environment as an icebreaker for social interaction.
• Activation: Create interesting, functional spaces and a centre or heart for the community through diverse scales of common spaces with intentional things to see and do.
• Inclusion: Create spaces that are accessible and safe for people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds; Reflect different cultural preferences and identities.
• Transition: Balance high-quality, livable private homes with common spaces; Consider thoughtful transitions and gradients from public to private space.
• Evolution: Nurture a sense of belonging through stewardship of common spaces; Allow spaces to evolve with residents over time to meet changing community needs.

A visual example of the "Invitation" principle. Select the image to enlarge.

One of the things that stood out to me is that many of these considerations can be applied to existing buildings with simple retrofits or even just new furniture.

If you are interested in how to design buildings that help combat loneliness and support community, check out the toolkit and visit the Hey Neighbour Collective website.

A Video Series on Homelessness: A Fragemented System

People experiencing homelessness has always been a concern, now more than ever. I put together a video series to answer some of the common questions people have asked me about homelessness.

Throughout the series, I will highlight some solutions to prevent homelessness and give people a path out of it. While these solutions require action by the federal and provincial governments, local governments have a role in advocating and helping coordinate solutions in our community. This role is what Langley City is now taking on.

This second video answers the question, "Can you explain what emergency/stabilization services are available South of the Fraser?"

A Video Series on Homelessness: How Can We Prevent It?

People experiencing homelessness has always been a concern, now more than ever. I put together a video series to answer some of the common questions people have asked me about homelessness.

Throughout the series, I will highlight some solutions to prevent homelessness and give people a path out of it. While these solutions require action by the federal and provincial governments, local governments have a role in advocating and helping coordinate solutions in our community. This role is what Langley City is now taking on.

This first video answers the question, "What can we really do to prevent homelessness?"

Langley City Increases Developer Paid Community Amenity Contributions

Three funding tools are available for municipalities to help pay for infrastructure required to accommodate population and business growth. The first is the Development Cost Charge, which the province highly restricts what local governments can use it for but is applied to any redevelopment project. The City recently increased this fee. You can read a previous post about this.

There is also the Community Amenity Contributions fee, which is unrestricted but can only be applied during rezoning. The province recently enabled the best of both worlds: the Amenity Cost Charge. The City is working on creating an Amenity Cost Charge bylaw, which would eventually replace the Community Amenity Contributions fee. In the meantime, Langley City Council approved increasing our Community Amenity Contribution fee schedule as follows:

Current Rate
0.0-2.5 FAR: $4,000 per unit
2.5-3.0 FAR: $5,000 per unit
3.0-3.5 FAR: $6,000 per unit

Effective January 1, 2025
0.0-2.5 FAR: $6,000 per unit
2.5-3.0 FAR: $7,000 per unit
3.0-3.5 FAR: $8,000 per unit
3.5-4.0 FAR: $9,000 per unit
4.0-4.5 FAR: $10,000 per unit
4.5-5.0 FAR: $11,000 per unit
5.0-5.5 FAR: $12,000 per unit

Effective January 1, 2026
0.0-2.5 FAR: $8,000 per unit
2.5-3.0 FAR: $9,000 per unit
3.0-3.5 FAR: $10,000 per unit
3.5-4.0 FAR: $11,000 per unit
4.0-4.5 FAR: $12,000 per unit
4.5-5.0 FAR: $13,000 per unit
5.0-5.5 FAR: $14,000 per unit

A few things to note are that the City sets these fees to capture a portion of the profit from a development project to reinvest into the community. If the fee is set too low, you don't maximize the value for the community. If it is too high, you may stop a project from being built or end up with the cost being passed onto the buyer. Langley City worked with a land economist to set our rates. Our fees are lower than those of our two neighbouring municipalities.

A FAR is a density measure; the following is a rough idea of FAR to building type.

0-2.5 FAR: Detached House, Townhouse, Low-Rise Apartment
2.5-4.5 FAR: Mid-Rise Apartment, Mixed-Use Building
4.5+ FAR: Mid-Rise to High-Right Building

Provincial Transit Housing Areas: More Apartments North of the Fraser River

The Metro Vancouver Regional District recently created a model that shows the probability of where people could build additional apartments (both low-rise and high-rise) as a result of new provincial housing legislation and regulations that set minimum densities around SkyTrain Stations, Bus Exchanges, and West Coast Express Stations.

This model shows additional apartment buildings; for example, you'll see on the maps that there is no change in Langley City, as our Official Community Plan was already basically consistent with the new provincial rules.

Probability of additional densification: High-rise apartments

Probability of additional densification: Low-rise apartments

The red areas are where more apartments are most likely to be built, the yellow areas are medium, and the green areas are less likely.

Metro Vancouver staff make a few observations. The first is that these changes will not impact population growth, which is good. The second is that it will focus more housing along transit corridors.

My observation is that it may focus more housing growth back north of the Fraser River. My second observation is that we will need a well-funded transit system to support increasing the amount of housing near transit, which isn't the case right now.

Langley City Needs Provincial and Federal Action to Increase Housing Supply

Last year, the provincial government introduced the "Housing Supply Act," which enabled the province to set the number of new housing units that the province believes should be built in a municipality over a period of time. They rolled out the housing targets to the first batch of municipalities last year and are now rolling out targets to another 20 municipalities, including Langley City. Eventually, all municipalities in Metro Vancouver will have provincially imposed housing targets.

One of the main reasons for imposing these targets is to get some municipalities to streamline their development approval processes; I've heard horror stories about how it can take years to get a building permit in some municipalities. In Langley City, our development process is speedy and measured in months. However, I've noticed a slowdown in the number of development applications we've received lately.

When I asked some home builders why there has been a slowdown, they told me that interest rates, labour costs, and supply costs are the primary drivers for their slowdown.

I asked them about what government programs have been helpful. They pointed to the federal government's Apartment Construction Loan Program, which provides low-cost financing for rental apartment projects where at least 20% of housing units are priced to what a typical working household could afford. Continuing to make improvements and increasing funding for this program will enable more housing to be built.

BC Housing is the primary funder for traditional affordable housing projects, but it is known that they can be slow. For example, Langley City approved 981 units of seniors-focused affordable housing in 2021 for the Langley Lions Housing Society. It is now 2024, and phase one of the project has just restarted construction. The province must double down on efforts to speed up BC Housing projects.

Langley Lions Housing Society lots sit empty as it waits for phase two funding from BC Housing. Phase one is under construction in the background.

The Langley Regional Airport has out-of-date federal regulations that impose an artificial 12- to 15-storey high limit within most of Langley City, including near SkyTrain stations. We've been talking to the federal government, including going to Ottawa last week, to ask them to remove this artificial limit around our transit-oriented development areas.

Access to low-cost construction financing, slow BC Housing projects, and the Langely Airport's out-of-date high limit restrict housing construction in Langley City.

While municipalities don't build housing, Langley City will continue to do its part to ensure the speedy processing of building applications to ensure people have a place to call home. We will also continue to advocate and partner with the federal and provincial governments to reduce the barriers in our community and enable more housing to be built faster.

Housing Update from Minister Ravi Kahlon at Metro Vancouver Council of Councils

On Saturday, Mayors and Councillors of Metro Vancouver municipalities attended the semiannual Metro Vancouver Council of Councils meeting. This meeting allows all local elected representatives to learn about significant regional initiatives at the Metro Vancouver Regional District, ask questions, and provide feedback.

In the fall, the provincial government introduced a suite of legislation around land use, likely the most significant change in BC land-use law in the last 75 years. This was a very special Council of Councils, as it was dedicated to one topic: the provincial changes to land use.

I've talked about these changes in a previous post, but at a high level, the province now, by right, allows people to build up to four units of housing on every lot in urban areas, going up to six units along frequent transit lines. Near SkyTrain Stations and major transit exchanges, the province allows people to build, by right, at a minimum between 8 and 20 stories, depending on the distance. The final change was updates to some funding tools local governments use to still allow the collection of fees to pay for infrastructure even with the new "by right" densities.

At the Council of Councils, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon noted that the province would introduce new legislation to allow local governments to require a certain percentage of affordable housing or housing for people with disabilities in new residential housing projects. He also hinted at legislation for Tenant Relocation Policies. In a previous post, you can learn more about how these changes fit into the Langley City context. In the past, municipalities would negotiate inclusionary zoning and tenant relocation policies as part of the rezoning process. In many cases, this negotiation is no longer possible because of the new "by right" densities. It is good to see that the province plans to plug this gap with new legislation.

If there was one phrase that was used over and over again at the Council of Councils, it was "unintended consequences." Metro Vancouver Regional District staff presented some of their concerns about the provincial housing changes and proposed solutions. The biggest concern is that there are not enough planners and consultants to update local government policies and bylaws within the provincial government's timeline. The Regional District is looking at how it can support member municipalities to meet the aggressive provincial timelines.

A slide from Saturday's Council of Councils meeting shows current single-family areas and the likelihood of densification due to province legislation. Select the image to enlarge.

There is one big concern in my mind: infrastructure. We cannot have increased density without improved transit service. Currently, TransLink is on the path to bankruptcy. Mayors will need to significantly increase TransLink property tax to prevent this bankruptcy and expand transit; the province must also come to the table with new stable operating funding for TransLink. If they don't, transit service will not meet demand and congestion on our roads will skyrocket.

The federal government must also come to the table with water and sewer infrastructure funding. With our population growth driven by federal policy, they must also help pay for the infrastructure required to support this growth.

It was an informative Council of Councils meeting, and I look forward to the next meeting in the fall.

This One Small Change Will Allow More Three Bedroom Apartments

One of the things that Langley City Council has heard from the community is the desire to have more three-bedroom units in apartment buildings for growing families.

Building three-bedroom apartments is much easier in many parts of the world, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, and closer to home in New York and Seattle. Why is it easier? Because of the building code.

At the turn of the 20th Century, before fire sprinklers and a general understanding of how to design buildings for fire safety, planners decided that people should have at least two means of exiting a building due to a fire. That made sense back then, but it doesn't make much sense today with modern safety systems and fire designs.

Those two exit designs mean that apartments need double-loaded corridors, which is the typical design you see today.

Typical Double-Loaded Corridor Design. Select the image to enlarge.

The preceding example is from a project along 207th Street in Langley City and shows the double-loaded corridor, which lends itself to one- and two-bedroom units. Three-bedroom units are possible but become premium units because of the space required in double-loaded corridor designs.

With single-exit designs, building three-bedroom apartment units becomes much more cost-effective. It also allows more flexibility in building small-scale apartments. For example, you could build horizontal townhouses (which would be more accessible) or walk-up apartments instead of the typical three-storey vertical townhouse design.

Example of Single-Stair Design. Select the image to enlarge. Source: Manual of Illegal Floor Plans

Fire safety is critical; for a technical review of the safety of single-exit designs, please read the site "The Second Egress: Building a Code Change." For a friendly read, check out "The Curse of the Double Egress."

You might have missed it in the flurry of provincial housing announcements, but the provincial government recently said it would, "along with fire-safety professionals and national partners, is examining opportunities in codes, including requirements for egress stairs" If the province updates the building code to enable more single-exit designs, it would allow the construction of more affordable, smaller-scale three-bedroom units.

Provincial Changes to Encourage More Housing: Enabling Growth to Pay for Growth, Eliminating Minimum Parking Requirements

The provincial government is reforming zoning and how municipalities pay for infrastructure to support development. Last week, the provincial government put forward legislation allowing, by right, people to build 4 units of housing on residential lots in urban areas, increasing to 6 units near frequent transit. In my previous post, you can read about how this may impact Langley City.

Local governments can charge a fee for each new housing unit or commercial/industrial space. It's called a Development Cost Charge. The idea behind these charges is that builders should pay for the local government infrastructure required to support their projects. Local governments can use these fees for sewage, water, drainage, and road infrastructure and for providing and improving parkland. The provincial government is expanding these charges to allow local governments to use them for fire protection, police, and solid waste and recycling facilities. For example, due to redevelopment, Langley City could start collecting a Development Cost Charge to expand our fire hall.

Because these Development Cost Charges have limitations on how they can be used, local governments introduced Community Amenity Contributions. These contributions were a negotiated part of the rezoning process. Because the provincial government is increasing density by right and other legislation introduced yesterday will prescribe density around rapid transit stations, fewer rezonings will happen. The provincial government is also actively encouraging local governments to prezone land to be consistent with Official Community Plans.

For example, Langley City's Official Community Plan allows apartments on 55A Avenue, west of 198th Street. There is land still zoned for single-detached housing in that area. A builder must apply for a rezoning today, which can add processing time. The province doesn't want this to happen. They would rather Langley City already have the land prezoned for apartments.

The province is codifying these Community Amenity Contributions into legalization with the new name Amenity Cost Charges. Local governments can use these charges for a "facility or feature that provides social, cultural, heritage, recreational or environmental benefits to a community." These uses are broad. Like Development Cost Charges, local government can only use Amenity Cost Charges to support infrastructure required due to development or redevelopment. These Amenity Cost Charges are required, meaning no negotiation during rezoning is required.

As I mentioned, the provincial government also introduced legislation to provide a framework for the province to set up transit-oriented development areas and prescribe land use and zoning for these areas that local governments must follow. I could imagine this is to prevent situations like at 22nd Street Station, where there is only single-detached housing around a SkyTrain station. As Langley City already allows the highest density possible, considering the height limitations due to the Langley Regional Airport, this won't impact us except that the province will not allow local governments to set off-street parking space requirements for residential use in those areas. This elimination of parking minimums is something that I support as parking does add a considerable cost to housing (at least $60,000 per spot), and most people within walking distance of SkyTrain will take it. Builders can still include parking spaces, responding to market demand.

The provincial government has been busy reforming land-use and zoning. I can see the goal of these changes is to make it impossible for localized pushback to prevent housing from being built and to lower the cost and time it takes to build housing.

How we actually lower the cost of housing in Metro Vancouver

Over the past few weeks, I've been out of town and taking a break from blogging, but I have been thinking a lot about housing and how we seriously move the needle to return housing prices to a normal level in Metro Vancouver.

The first question is, what is a normal level? In the CMHC report, "Housing Shortages in Canada: Solving the Affordability Crisis," the authors note that households in BC historically spent no more than 44% of their pre-tax income on housing.

Using Langley City, the average income for a household in 2020 was $89,400. About 50% of the households in Langley City make this income or more.

These households should be able to buy or rent housing at market rates built by for-profit developers. This isn't the case today, with many households spending 60% or more of their income on housing.

So, how do we drive down the cost of housing in a meaningful way in Metro Vancouver?

The first is to lower the cost of land. Most land within our Urban Containment Boundary is zoned for single-detached housing in Metro Vancouver. This zoning restriction puts a premium on land zoned for higher densities.

I did a straightforward search on Reator.ca in Langley City. The property at 20196 48 Avenue is selling for $149/sq. ft. Meanwhile, 20214 52 Avenue, a 5-minute walk down the street, is selling for $278/sq. ft. The 48 Avenue property is in a single-detached area, while 20214 52 Avenue is in a low-rise attached housing area.

Building a townhouse, excluding land, costs about $233/sq. ft. in Metro Vancouver. Increasing the land supply to accommodate townhouses will lower the land cost, driving meaningful savings for people buying or renting a home. This is simple supply and demand.

The provincial government understands this is a concern, so they will be requiring municipalities to allow up to four housing units per residential lot in BC. While I understand this, a much better approach to driving down land costs would be to enable a minimum FAR of 1.4 for all resident areas within the Urban Containment Boundary of Metro Vancouver. This would enable cost-effective land assemblies and the typical three-story townhouse format we see in Metro Vancouver. Municipalities cannot do this piecemeal, so it would have to be mandated or strongly encouraged by the provincial government to drive meaningful cost savings across Metro Vancouver.

We also know that borrowing money impacts the cost of building housing. The provincial and federal governments should help developers to get lower-interest loans for building market rental and ownership townhouses and apartments, not just below-market housing.

Another significant cost driver for housing is municipal parking requirements. Looking at the typical three-storey townhouse, about 1/3 of the square footage is for parking. We must remove minimum parking requirements. I know this can be tricky as parking is a third-rail issue in some communities. Still, many North American municipalities are removing or reducing parking requirements to reduce housing costs.

As they say, time is money, and waiting a year to go through the approval process at City Hall wouldn't cut it. The provincial government must set service-level targets that municipalities should meet and work with municipalities through UBCM to help us achieve those targets by providing support.

The home construction industry needs to become more productive. Simply put, the same amount of people working in the industry will need to build more housing units faster. The province must work with the industry to help improve productivity.

The final piece of the puzzle is to add transparency to buying new homes. Many people tell me, "Nathan, for all the cost savings you're talking about, developers will just take that as profit." This is why we should have updated disclosure statements for every new home. These statements should show the land costs, construction costs, development fee costs, financing costs, and profit per square foot for a new home. The province should also centrally track this information and make it publicly available to ensure developers are not exploiting folks.

I didn't talk about non-market housing in this post. We must build more of it, but lowering the cost of market housing will help the most people, the faster.