We value: Our readers.
Our independence. Our region.
The power of real journalism.
We're reader supported.
Get our newsletter free.
Help pay for our reporting.
Welcome to Tyee’s reader poll.

Tyee Poll: Are the BC Budget’s Housing Promises Enough to Address Supply and Demand?

The NDP provincial government announced a slew of housing solutions in its recent budget.

There are two camps of housing solutions: supply (let’s build more!) and demand (target speculators, local and foreign!). The NDP’s 30-point housing plan addresses both.

It includes $1.6 billion for three years of housing supply “to build and maintain affordable rental housing, help finance new student housing projects at public post-secondary institutions, increase rental assistance for low-income seniors and working families, and provide supportive housing for at-risk British Columbians.”

There are also new taxes to quell demand: a speculation tax, property transfer tax for homes valued over $3 million, a bump up in the foreign buyers’ tax from 15 per cent to 20 per cent and an expansion of the foreign buyers’ tax beyond Metro Vancouver to the Fraser Valley, Nanaimo, the Central Okanagan and the Capital Regional District.

B.C. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson isn’t a fan of demand-side interventions, he’s in favour of more supply instead; developers aren’t pleased either, with the Urban Development Institute saying the new taxes are “alarming” and won’t help with affordability.

Housing advocates, on the other hand, welcome the “historic” investment. Jill Atkey of the BC Non-Profit Housing Association says the new investments will make a “tangible difference” in British Columbian’s lives.

We’re wondering what you think about these solutions.

* Please note that all poll answers will be publicly viewable, but anonymous.

Fill out this week's poll.

Please note that Tyee Barometer polls are only intended as a quick and engaging non-scientific snapshot of our readers' opinions on various topics that fit with The Tyee's very broad editorial mandate. They are not intended to be seen as a representative sampling of BC opinion.

Share this poll

LATEST STORIES

The Barometer

Do You Think Trudeau Will Survive the Next Election?

Take this week's poll

{% include 02-organisms/sections/builder-modal.html %}