A new Expert Panel on the Future of Housing Supply and Affordability has been tasked with making recommendations to the Governments of B.C. and Canada. The Panel is seeking feedback prior to April 3 from interested parties on what could be done to increase housing supply and make housing more affordable.
The Federal Government, together with the Province, established the Expert Panel following an announcement in the 2019 Federal Budget. The Budget allocated $4 million over 2 years to the work of the Panel, with an additional $5 million over two years for supply modelling and data collection.
The primary focus of the Expert Panel is to examine housing supply, including potentially via detailed demographic and market trend analysis, consideration of innovative forms of housing, and identification of new federal and provincial measures to increase supply. However, the Panel may also identify and evaluate measures that could be taken to deter unwanted demand including reducing speculative market behaviour and addressing money laundering.
Feedback may be provided via online form or as a written submission. UBCM will be presenting to the Panel and preparing a submission based on policy set out in UBCM’s housing strategy.
The Panel will produce an interim report by mid-2020, and a final report by the end of 2020.
Panel members were chosen to be private citizens with relevant expertise, instead of government officials, and were appointed by the Ministers of Finance of B.C. and Canada:
- Joyce MacPhail, Chair of ICBC
- Jill Atkey, CEO of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association
- Jock Finlayson, Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, Business Council of B.C.
- Brian McCauley, President and CEO of Concert Properties
- Sue Paish, CEO of Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster
- Helmut Pastrick, Chief Economist for Central 1 Credit Union