Unlocking new homes: Eby outlines middle-class housing action plan

Rustad would rip up Eby’s actions to reduce red tape for builders, turn housing market back to wealthy speculators (Photo: David Eby/Facebook)

COMOX VALLEY – David Eby was back in the Comox Valley to highlight his plan to unlock the construction of 300,000 middle-class homes in the next decade. Eby toured a home with a newly constructed secondary suite, the kind of home John Rustad would block from being built with red tape.

“An affordable place to call home is the foundation of building a good life here in B.C. It needs to be easier and faster to build housing people can actually afford,” said Eby. “Our action to reduce red tape to deliver new townhomes and triplexes is a game changer. We’re just starting to see rents come down and homes get built; it’s too big a risk to turn back to the old status quo.”

In addition to making changes that will get more small-scale, multi-unit homes built, Eby’s plan also cracks down on those buying up homes and turning them into mini-hotels for profit. A new report shows that asking rents in B.C. went down 3.2% in the last year and down 10% in Vancouver for 1 and 2 bedrooms. British Columbia is also building rental homes four times faster than Ontario.

“We know there’s a lot more to do, but we’re finally starting to turn a corner and see prices and rents come down. Cancelling our housing plan now would make speculators rich while you pay more,” added Eby. “John Rustad has a 20-year record of defending the old status quo on housing. His plan would take us back to the failed policies that got us in this mess in the first place – making homes more expensive, not less. Nobody can afford that.”

John Rustad would give the owners of homes worth more than $3 million a tax break while gutting Eby’s Homes for People plan:

Cancelling 300,000 middle-income homes on the way by repealing Bill 44

Cancelling the speculation tax and turning rental homes back into empty units and driving up costs

Cancelling the new program to open the door to homeownership by helping with 40% of the financing

Cancelling Airbnb rules and turning long term homes back into short vacation rentals and raising rents