BC Provincial Government Housing Policies 2023

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I have not lived here that long, but can someone tell me what is the "character" and "historical built environment" of the area in question that Richmond is delaying changing their OCP?

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/richmond-steveston-small-scale-multi-unit-housing-legislation

— you, you have no soul. (Someone on this forum once said that to me when I made the same comments!) Look at this character.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/9EMzFP9Wjeuut67J9

"Character" and "historical built environment" have always been complete — terms used to block changes that might be scary for 50+ year old residents. No, a house being built when you were a kid does not make it "historical".

[BaddieB]

3 old buildings

[GenWhy?]

K because my impression was the historic area was south of Chatham Street, like the commercial stores and the wharf, not the homes to the north, right?

[Sheba]

BC homeowner near SkyTrain station has 70% property tax jump

A man who lives near Lougheed Mall says his property tax has gone from $5,800 to $9,394 in one year due to his proximity to the SkyTrain.

Steve McCulloch has lived in his current home for eight years, and a few blocks away for the previous 10 years.

“I got my, assessment last year. It was high,” he said. “I got my tax bill last year for the municipality. It was crazy. It went up about 70 per cent. They say my assessment is on the potential of the future development in this neighbourhood here.”

Under Section 19.8 of the Assessment Act, if the property is a principal residence and the owner has lived there for at least 10 years then there is a grandfather clause that exempts the homeowner from the potential of the neighbourhood.

...

Paul Sullivan, property tax agent with Ryan Tax Firm in Vancouver, said this is going to be something that everyone should note.

“This new legislation came about after the permissive use stated on last year’s assessment role,” he said. “So, it’s in play now for the 2025 assessment role. And we’re going to see what B.C. Assessment wants to do with that. I mean, we’re doubling the density of the commercial corridors where we’re putting in duplex, tri-plex, six-plex in single-family neighbourhoods and it only takes one sale to make a market.

“So, that sale will probably occur in most neighbourhoods and then we’re going to start to have some serious increase in taxes.”

...

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said that there shouldn’t be a huge spike in taxes because so much land is being up-zoned at once that the lift should not be that significant.

...

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by Sheba

BC homeowner near SkyTrain station has 70% property tax jump

Someone on Reddit found his property. He bought it in 2015 for about $1.1m, and he just put it on the market for $3.3m (or $4.1m if you buy it as a part of a land assembly). He's clearing a tidy $2m in tax-free profit while complaining that his property tax is going up by $4k a year. Property tax that he can defer too, mind you.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Someone on Reddit found his property. He bought it in 2015 for about $1.1m, and he just put it on the market for $3.3m (or $4.1m if you buy it as a part of a land assembly). He's clearing a tidy $2m in tax-free profit while complaining that his property tax is going up by $4k a year. Property tax that he can defer too, mind you.

Just another local boomer that became an accidental millionaire and wants to play the victim over paying their share of taxes.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Someone on Reddit found his property. He bought it in 2015 for about $1.1m, and he just put it on the market for $3.3m (or $4.1m if you buy it as a part of a land assembly). He's clearing a tidy $2m in tax-free profit while complaining that his property tax is going up by $4k a year. Property tax that he can defer too, mind you.

I don't own property, and am still not clear on how the tax rate changes over time with assessed value (for work I just pop in the numbers and that's it).

But... if everyone else has a higher assessment wouldn't the city then recalibrate what they'll take from him based on the latest City budget?

Like, I assume just because he can get charged $9,394 doesn't mean he will, right? The City doesn't just go "oh Steve McCulloch is giving us an extra $4k this year!"

Am I missing something?

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I don't own property, and am still not clear on how the tax rate changes over time with assessed value (for work I just pop in the numbers and that's it).

But... if everyone else has a higher assessment wouldn't the city then recalibrate what they'll take from him based on the latest City budget?

Like, I assume just because he can get charged $9,394 doesn't mean he will, right? The City doesn't just go "oh Steve McCulloch is giving us an extra $4k this year!"

Am I missing something?

One thing of note is that higher assessments aren't equal across municipalities. Coquitlam has so far not upzoned single family homes across the city so those houses have artificially depressed values whereas this "poor" guy has a property where you're actually allowed to build giving him a lot of value.

This is a huge sob story over having too much money.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I don't own property, and am still not clear on how the tax rate changes over time with assessed value (for work I just pop in the numbers and that's it).

But... if everyone else has a higher assessment wouldn't the city then recalibrate what they'll take from him based on the latest City budget?

Like, I assume just because he can get charged $9,394 doesn't mean he will, right? The City doesn't just go "oh Steve McCulloch is giving us an extra $4k this year!"

Am I missing something?

You're theoretically correct, but that's not how it's working out. You're right that if everyone else has a higher assessment then the city would recalibrate what they'll take based on the latest City budget, and he'd pay roughly the same as last year, plus the 8.9% tax increase that Coquitlam approved.

However, a majority of Coquitlam housing isn't within the transit areas, so those owners aren't facing the same hike in assessed values as those properties that are within the transit areas. (Once the developers move in and start paying higher prices, higher assessed values are pretty much guaranteed). In fact, as the tax take is fixed by the budget, those outside transit areas could see their tax bill less than it otherwise would have been, as the owners inside the transit area pay more.

If he's over 55 he could defer his taxes, but it's hard to tell whether it applies to him (he looks Gen X rather than boomer), and a majority of BC taxpayers who are eligable don't like the idea of carrying debt they would owe to the government, and pay their taxes anyway, without deferring.

The increase in value of his home isn't an advantage until he sells it.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Changing City

If he's over 55 he could defer his taxes, but it's hard to tell whether it applies to him (he looks Gen X rather than boomer), and a majority of BC taxpayers who are eligable don't like the idea of carrying debt they would owe to the government, and pay their taxes anyway, without deferring.

The increase in value of his home isn't an advantage until he sells it.

The article mentions that he's drawing his company pension, so odds are he's over 55.

And to say an increase in home value isn't an advantage until you sell is not true. Banks and other lenders will let you tap into that equity quite readily.

[jollyburger]

On Monday, the Province unveiled the new Building Permit Hub, a tool that digitizes local building permit processes while also standardizing those processes across municipalities.

The Hub will also automatically review building permit applications — the permit required before construction on a project can begin — to confirm they are complete and also automatically check for compliance with key parts of the BC Building Code.

Applicants will submit their applications to the Building Permit Hub, after which the applications will then be sent to the corresponding local government for review.

"One of the things that I hear from homebuilders, that I hear from homeowners, is their biggest challenge is just getting the permits to do the work — to build the homes we need, to the build a secondary suite, to build a laneway house, to build a new home in British Columbia," said Premier David Eby at the press conference, which took place at a BCIT facility in Burnaby. "That challenge is one that prevents the homes that we desperately need from getting built."

https://storeys.com/bc-building-permit-hub/

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I have not lived here that long, but can someone tell me what is the "character" and "historical built environment" of the area in question that Richmond is delaying changing their OCP?

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/richmond-steveston-small-scale-multi-unit-housing-legislation

There's very little of historic residential character left there. I can see parking being an issue there (unless we all want to kid ourselves the new residents will all be taking transit).

[mcj]

Originally Posted by whatnext

There's very little of historic residential character left there. I can see parking being an issue there (unless we all want to kid ourselves the new residents will all be taking transit).

With every property currently having a massive driveway, shouldn't be too hard to redevelop with off street parking. The area has a notable lack of pedestrian infrastructure compared to the neighbourhoods south of it. Perhaps a hostile environment for pedestrians is the character of the neighbourhood?

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by whatnext

There's very little of historic residential character left there. I can see parking being an issue there (unless we all want to kid ourselves the new residents will all be taking transit).

On the radio this morning I caught they wanted to delay planning for this specific area for up to 5 years. Main concerns are "sewer / parking" but the stressed part at the end of the list by the Mayor was "character". So, we know it's mainly the last item they want to fight on.

Again with parking. I don't know what sane builder would start popping up 4-plexes in the "middle of nowhere" and try to sell these in this buyers / mortgage climate without parking.

You can't park on the street anyway due to all the front-street driveways. So there shouldn't be a concern about "losing parking". The Mayors are really showing some due colours on the housing crisis lately.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by mcj

Perhaps a hostile environment for pedestrians is the character of the neighbourhood?

The Snout House Historical Preservation Zone?

[jollyburger]

This should be good for a laugh.

The District of West Vancouver council has rejected a rezoning that would have allowed additional coach houses and secondary suites on about 200 residential properties and brought the district in line with new provincial legislation.

The vote to reject the plan comes after the province gave municipalities a deadline of June 30 to bring local bylaws in line with new rules allowing greater density on single-family lots to supply more “small scale housing.”

Most single-family lots in the rest of West Vancouver already allow both secondary suites and coach houses, so wouldn’t have been impacted by the change.

But about 220 properties – or about 1.6 per cent of the total in the district – stood to have their allowable density increased as a result of the provincially-mandated change (about 40 of the properties already have apartments, so the real number impacted is closer to 180).

https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/west-vancouver-council-rejects-provincial-housing-rules-8896924

Richmond and Coquitlam want "extensions"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c...C%20multiplexes%20and%20laneway%20houses.

[CB-Thompson]

Coun. Christine Cassidy, who described the provincial rules as “an extreme form of socialism, bordering on communism”

So, according to Coun. Cassidy, the relaxing of restrictions on what someone can do with their privately owned property is "socialism." And not even that much of a relaxation as it's just to allow coach houses on about 180 properties and entirely at the landowner's discretion if these get built.

[BaddieB]

Communism is when you deregulate so the private sector can boost supply.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by BaddieB

Communism is when you deregulate so the private sector can boost supply.

We're descending into McCarthism, where any conservative who opposes zoning reform just lables such measures as socialist, or communist, or radical.

[Burquitlaman]

This reminds me of that video on YT of people from the 60s/70s in the UK being interviewed about new seatbelt regulations. A couple of them said we are descending into communism. Because of seatbelts.

Seatbelts.

Also I laugh at people that try to deflect by simply using words like "communist" or "capitalist".

Regulation is either positive or it isn't. Whichever form of "ism" it is. Fearmongering by screaming "ism" is such a boomer thing tbh.