Eby visited new housing sites in the Lower Mainland at risk if John Rustad rips up BC’s Homes for People plan

LANGLEY –BC NDP leader David Eby spent the day touring new housing development projects underway in the Lower Mainland as part of his action plan, which experts say will deliver 300,000 middle-class homes over the next ten years.

“After decades of rampant speculation in the housing market, finding an affordable place to call home in a community you love is one of the biggest challenges facing people in B.C.,” said Eby. “We’re taking on speculation and cutting red tape to unlock the construction of hundreds of thousands of middle-class homes. We’re just starting to see some signs we’re turning the corner, and we can’t let up now. If John Rustad were to rip up our housing action plan, all of these new homes are at risk."

Eby pointed to rent prices starting to come down–including a 7% drop in Vancouver–and the fact that British Columbia is building rental homes four times faster than Ontario as signs the plan is starting to work.

Yesterday, John Rustad launched his campaign by saying it’s not the government’s job to build housing. Earlier this week, he told the Union of BC Municipalities he would “get rid of Bill 44” – bringing back red tape and bureaucracy that blocks the construction of new townhomes and fourplexes. Previously, when asked which parts of Eby’s Housing Action Plan he would continue, Rustad said, “I would repeal all of that.”

“John Rustad would return to the failed status quo that worked really well for speculators and wealthy investors–but not for people,” said Eby. “Those are the policies that got us into the housing crisis in the first place, and they won’t work to dig us out. Our plan brings people together and uses every tool in the toolbox to tackle the housing crisis. We won’t stop until the job is done.”

David Eby and the BC NDP’s plan to deliver more homes you can afford:

1. Taking on speculators –through the Speculation Tax that has turned well over 20,000 empty condos into long-term homes in Metro Vancouver alone, a new flipping tax so families trying to buy a home don’t have to compete with house flippers, and by restricting short-term rentals like AirBnBs–turning thousands of units into long-term homes.
2. Breaking down barriers to construction –by cutting red tape that was blocking the construction of small multi-unit developments, allowing more homes near transit, using public land to build more middle-class housing, and making it easier to build and rent out secondary or basement suites.
3. Protecting renters –by capping rents at or below inflation, protecting people from having their homes bought out from under them and sold to big corporate landlords, and building 10,000 units of student housing to take pressure off the local rental market.

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