UBCM has red flags over Bill M216 that would fast-track housing in British Columbia
Anderson said these changes would reduce the amount of work needed, allowing building projects to be started more quickly, delivering more housing in the province. (Ron Lach / Pexels)
MLA for Nanaimo–Lantzville, George Anderson, is currently moving forward with a private member's bill that has sparked concern among local governments.
Bill M216 – Professional Reliance Act, introduced by Anderson, would change how local governments accept technical reports on housing developments by certified professionals.
The bill is now in its committee stage after passing its second reading last week.
If passed, local governments would have to accept reports prepared by certified professionals licensed under the Professional Governance Act (PGA) without staff review of any engineering reports or architectural designs.
Anderson said these changes would reduce the amount of work needed, allowing building projects to be started more quickly, delivering more housing in the province.
MLA George Anderson spoke with CHLY about his new bill.
“Bill M 216 is all about trying to bring the dream that many young people and families have of owning a home back into reality and also have affordable housing, because every day, month and year of delay, are costs that are passed on to the end user,” Anderson said. “Whether that's students who are trying to afford a place to rent in Nanaimo, or Vancouver, or Vernon, whether or not you're a first-time prospective home buyer, every month of delay costs more.”
Anderson explained that, currently, when a builder hires a professional, such as an engineer, geoscientist, or architect, for a building project, the professional must prepare technical reports and submit them to the relevant local government. The local government may then review the work.
“[Municipal] staff who are over capacity in the sense of the work that they need to do, it may mean that it may take a significant amount of time before an individual actually reviews that work,” Anderson said. “So the fact is, the faster that we're able to bring homes to market means that people who are looking to buy a home or to rent will end up having cheaper homes, and that's what the intent of this bill is to make sure that we can deliver homes for people faster.”
This bill has already sparked some criticism over how it could disrupt local government approval authorities.
President of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, Cori Ramsay, told CHLY they are worried that the bill could undermine public safety and increase liability for local governments, putting homeowners and taxpayers at risk.
“Homeowners and renters expect that due diligence has been provided when they move into a newly built home, and the purpose of peer review by local government staff is to ensure that there aren't errors in submissions that will lead to health safety or other problems in builds,” Ramsay said. “The public might not be aware of this, but local government staff catch a lot of things developers have missed, and we work with developers to get it right. That's such a huge piece of the development process, and the process MLA Anderson is proposing will really make it harder for local governments to act even when they see significant health and safety risks.”
Anderson said that while this bill would cut some red tape from the approval process, getting housing built faster is its top priority and would allow local governments to focus on other important projects.
“It's right in the legislation, it says that local governments are still in charge of zoning bylaws and official community plans. This bill would give local governments the opportunity to be able to focus on more high-level work, which would be great for our community, and further limit the liability that local governments have,” Anderson said. “So that means that the local government couldn't be sued, and I think that's actually a positive thing, because that means that the local government can spend money on buying parkland, fixing the roads and creating the type of communities that we all want to live in.”
While Ramsay understands the need for more housing throughout this province, she said there are just too many red flags in the bill to go untouched.
“This bill expands the definition of a qualified professional, and now you're getting agrologists and biologists and people who don't have the same level of life safety experience in approving these types of really important pieces of infrastructure in our communities,” Ramsay said.
If passed in its current form, Ramsay said the bill will prevent local governments from conducting peer reviews of submissions made by a registered PGA professional.
Under the legislation, municipalities will still have the chance to dispute any concerns with the PGA Superintendent’s Office about whether the work should be redone.
But this, Ramsay said, will just lead to more delays and higher costs for developers while they wait for an answer from the superintendent.
She also touched on the risk the bill poses by shifting liability for damages from the local government to the PGA professional.
“But what happens when a developer doesn't have the right liability coverage? What happens if you're building a commercial building and there's a $20 million deficiency, and they only have $3 million worth of coverage?” Ramsay said. “It's the taxpayer who's going to be on the hook for the difference. So when I say this bill is broken, there are really some huge pieces to this that haven't been considered, and we want to make sure that taxpayers are protected.”
While this bill has sparked criticism, Anderson told CHLY that he is open to working with the UBCM and other concerned groups to make sure all voices are heard now that the bill is at the committee stage.
“What I can tell you is I want to work with people. I want to work with UBCM,” Anderson said. “I want to work with engineers and geoscientists in British Columbia, because people want us to work together. Housing isn't a partisan issue; we should all be coming together and saying, here's a bill that's been brought for that can help a lot of people. Let's see how we can make it work.”
With the bill in the committee stage, people can leave feedback through a portal on the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia website. Feedback can be given until January 6th of next year.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.