BC awards more funding support for local home building, despite lagging progress

(Image courtesy of CBC)

On Wednesday, BC announced that local governments will receive more support to “break down barriers and create more efficient approvals processes” that the province claims will “deliver more homes quicker.”

The province is putting nine million dollars into the Local Government Development Approvals Program to streamline permitting and development approval processes, which is aimed at enabling quicker housing delivery and expanding housing supply.

“We’re working to help remove barriers that local governments are experiencing that result in a slowdown in creating housing,” said Christine Boyle, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs. “This investment will help local governments cut through delays, bring housing plans to life quickly and grow in ways that meet peoples’ needs.”

BC cities remain slow on meeting housing targets

It's hard not to see how these actions are not related to the BC Housing Act and how municipalities are falling behind targets set by the province. Referring to an earlier report Coastal Front did in July, over the past three years, the province has established four groups, ranked by need for new housing. Group one has the highest need, and group four has the lowest. Group one began work in September 2023, groups two and three started in mid-2024, and group four launched in 2025.

According to the most recent data, covering the first annual reporting period from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024, only three of the 10 cities in group one achieved their housing targets.

2024 Housing Order Report for group one.

With this recent move by the BC government, time will tell if it moves the needle firmly towards more building than talking.