The province is proposing changes to recent short-term rental and housing development legislation that would allow the public naming of bad actors who violate rental rules.
And it would give the B.C. government the ability to strong-arm municipalities that create rules to stifle the implementation of small-scale multi-unit housing standards.
"There's no silver bullet to address the housing crisis, and that's why, as a government, we continue to go after speculators and make historic investments in non-market housing and work alongside home builders and local governments to reduce red tape and see more housing delivered," Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Christine Boyle said.
Recent monthly statistics from rentals.ca show asking rents in B.C. for September are down 5.5 per cent year-over-year. This follows a broader nationwide trend, so it is difficult to determine the specific policies and market forces responsible. Rents are down in Canada as a whole by 2.3 per cent year-over-year.
The two pieces of legislation were introduced on Thursday, Oct. 9, and still need to go through several stages before a final vote.
The short-term rental bill amends rules to clarify the definition of a principal residence — short-term renting is only allowed in the principal residence or on the property — and revise the registration process.
Other changes focus on compliance efforts and will include new penalties for people who provide false information, the ability of a government administrator to reduce or cancel penalties and the public disclosure of compliance actions.
This follows news of illegal listings being found in Vancouver, including those rented out by tenants without the landlord's knowledge.
Boyle said that type of activity is already against the rules.
"We continue to track and go after and pull down those illegal listings, but the new legislation gives us additional tools not just to take them down but to implement monetary penalties and to name bad actors," she said.
The other bill would alter rules made under the Housing Statutes Amendment Act, commonly known as Bill 44, which forces municipalities to allow for multi-unit housing development in designated areas.
While many parts of the province have complied willingly with this push, in others, there has been resistance. This bill will prevent local governments from creating new restrictions to stop this type of development, such as by increasing parking minimums to a point where development becomes impossible.
The province would be able to overrule these sorts of added regulations by order of a cabinet minister if the new legislation passes.
"These tools will allow us to work with those local governments and push, if needed, to make sure that the regulations are applied consistently and that more housing options are available in every community across B.C.," Boyle said.
She would not name the offending districts that the bill is aimed at.
"If it comes to a point of us needing to push harder, I am sure that you'll hear about it," she said.
