Langley Township could see 500 new units of middle-class housing built if developers snap up three local sites through a partnership with the provincial BC Builds program.
Premier David Eby and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon joined Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward for the announcement on Monday, April 29.
The three sites in the Township – in the 27200 block of Fraser Highway in Aldergrove, at 20230 72B Ave., and at 7883 199 St. – are all municipal land, as are the other five sites in cities including Kamloops, Sooke, and North Cowichan.
The plan is to fast-track the sites for construction into middle-income oriented housing. The sites have been pre-zoned and can get from proposal to construction in between 12 to 18 months, rather than the usual years-long process that precedes shovels going into the ground.
With local governments like the Township providing the land, the province will supply low-cost financing and grants.
Kahlon said he expects projects like this to be popular with builders, as many of them are facing uncertainty over privately funded development projects, giving higher interest rates in recent years.
Once built, the homes are targeted for middle-income tenants and are expected to cost no more than 30 per cent of the future residents’ income.
Eby said that some have said the solution to the housing crisis should be left to the markets.
“To paraphrase the great Taylor Swift, we’ve seen that movie before, and we sure didn’t like how it ended,” said Eby.
Province-wide, the goal is to build 8,000 to 10,000 new homes through this program over the next five years.
“We know there’s not one strategy that will address the housing crisis,” Kahlon said.
This is one method of getting more affordable homes built, but the province has also been pushing through reforms around zoning, and has created a rental protection fund to put existing rental stock in the hands of non-profit owners.
Langley Township may not be done with BC Builds.
“We have three to four more [sites] that could easily be added to this program,” said Woodward, who noted that when the province asked how many sites they could offer the program, the Township responded by asking how many they would like.
The premier didn’t rule out continuing this BC Builds program over the long term.
It doesn’t require ongoing funding, as once the buildings are completed, money flows back to the government, which can be used for further projects.
“We see no reason why this program won’t be able to continue indefinitely,” he said.
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