Affordability, housing top of mind ahead of B.C. throne speech
CBC
As the cost of living, health-care shortfalls and an eight-year toxic drug crisis continue to plague British Columbia, the provincial government is set to deliver the speech from the throne on Tuesday afternoon, outlining its priorities for the year ahead.
Affordability, child care, climate change and reconciliation should all be top of mind for the NDP government, according to former B.C. NDP party president Moe Sihota.
"[The throne speech is] going to be more pointed than normal because this is an election year," he told Early Edition guest host Gloria Macarenko on Monday.
A provincial election is slated for October.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon promised that, among other things, affordability will indeed factor into both the throne speech and the 2024 budget, the latter of which is to be presented in the legislature on Thursday.
"People are struggling with costs, global inflation," he said. "There's going to be measures around making sure that people can continue to afford the necessities in their life."
The cost of groceries, utilities and housing are all expected to continue rising in 2024, causing concern for people across the province.
Home prices across Canada are expected to rise by 5.5 per cent by the end of 2024, according to a market survey forecast by Royal LePage. The province announced in September it would cap the allowable rent increase at 3.5 per cent for 2024 — up from two per cent the previous year.
B.C. Green Party house leader and Saanich North MLA Adam Olsen said the current affordable housing crisis has been decades in the making.
"I know that political parties are going to try to pin it on the current government, but it is the result of poor public policy over successive governments," he said.
He said the only way B.C. can dig its way out of the housing crisis is with a plan that incorporates health care, transportation and education, among other things.
"We can pretend like all of these issues are separate and take individual actions, but we actually have to see a co-ordinated plan."
Kahlon said a long-awaited flipping tax will come forward during this next session, which was announced in April 2023 as part of the province's housing plan.
"We still hear consistently, [about] investors going in, buying properties, flipping them for large profits," he said. "That is not what we need."
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