BC Government Announces New One-Stop Provincial Permitting Strategy

This morning, Premier David Eby, Minister Nathan Cullen of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship, and Minister of Ravi Kahlon of Housing made a joint announcement regarding the Permitting Strategy for Housing.

Outlined below are the details of this announcement:

 
  • The Permitting Strategy for Housing will be implemented to create a single, coordinated, expedited approach to housing-related permits and authorizations in the natural resource sector, eliminating the need for multiple applications across ministries.
 
  • This would include permits related to riparian area approvals, water licenses, transportation approvals and many more permits CHBA BC has identified as problematic approval timelines in past submissions.
 
  • While the single application window is being established the coming months, permit and authorization decisions will be expedited through a cross-ministry "Housing Action Taskforce" focused solely on processing housing permits. This team, includes decision makers, IT systems, project managers and policy support teams on hand to speed up processing.
 
  • The strategy is supported by an initial investment of 42 new full-time positions. Once those positions are filled, the team can be increased to 203 positions.
 
  • Housing that most urgently needs to be built will be prioritized for this new process, including Indigenous-led projects, BC Housing applications and multiple unit applications.
 
  • Priority will also be given to authorizations and permit approvals for housing projects in municipalities that are subject to the Speculation and Vacancy Tax given their significant housing shortages, lowest vacancy rates and most demand for housing.

CHBA BC was quoted in the announcement:

“This announcement responds to a long-standing challenge the residential industry has faced when moving through the complex, multi-layered provincial approval process. Our municipal benchmarking report showed that provincial reviews, often through multiple ministries, have contributed to prolonged approval timelines. We look forward to the Housing Action Task Force implementing a single, co-ordinated, housing-first approach on permitting so that builders can more quickly meet the housing needs of British Columbians.”

Neil Moody, CEO, Canadian Home Builders’ Association of British Columbia

 

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