B.C. NDP pledges to help middle-income homebuyers with 40% of financing

SURREY, B.C. — New Democrat Leader David Eby says he will help more middle-class, first-time buyers into the housing market in British Columbia with a plan to finance 40 per cent of the price.

Eby said Wednesday during an election campaign stop that his Homes for People plan will commit up to $1.29 billion per year in financing, while supporting the development of up to 25,000 new units over five years.

The early days of the campaign ahead of B.C.’s Oct. 19th election also saw the provincial Greens lay out their plans to maintain a carbon tax, separating them from the position of the other two major provincial parties.

An NDP government would partner with non-profit organizations, local governments, First Nations and market-housing providers to identify land and projects for development, Eby said.

He said government financing and the use of low-cost land would allow builders to offer units for sale at 40 per cent below market prices, and buyers would need to come up with the remaining 60 per cent.

“The benefit of this plan means that people will be able to buy with a smaller down payment,” he said at an outdoor news conference in the pouring rain.

“Their monthly payments will be lower and will be affordable and the taxpayers will be protected,” said Eby. “If home values go up, revenue to the province goes up and resources for more affordable housing projects are more available.”

He said taxpayers are also protected if home prices drop.

“This is a loan,” Eby said. “This is not a grant. The homeowner pays interest on it just like they would on any kind of financing.” The interest rate on the government loan would be 1.5 per cent, he said.

The NDP leader said when the buyer sells, the province’s contribution must be repaid, plus 40 per cent of the appreciation value of the home.

A Vancouver urban planner said the NDP promise appears to be geared toward getting middle-income buyers into the market when the need is greatest among people with lower incomes who are renters.

“It’s trying to deal with where the votes are, but it does not deal with where the needs are,” said Andy Yan, director at Simon Fraser University’s city program. “It’s not enough. It does very little for renters or those on lower incomes.”

The plan could also create a “new floor” for home prices in B.C., he said, adding more information about the details of the program is required.

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau said B.C. needs an approach to housing that ends homelessness, vacancy control and increases the amount of non-market housing.

“We need housing policy right now that protects the most vulnerable and most marginalized people in B.C.,” she said.

Eby said he hears from families across the province telling him their dream of owning a home is out of reach.

“I will be focused every single day on doing all we can to ensure housing affordability for British Columbians,” he said. “Without a decent and affordable place to live you might not even be able to get by or get ahead.”

Eby said if units under the plan are not sold the provincial contribution would need to be repaid 25 years after the date of purchase.

The proposal uses the same model as a project Eby recently announced with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

Furstenau was in Victoria to lay out her party’s position on the carbon tax.

While Eby and Rustad are promising to end the tax, either in part or completely, Furstenau told reporters Wednesday that a Green government would maintain a price on carbon that increases annually, but put larger rebates into people’s pockets.

“Carbon pollution is expensive, and to not have a price on that, to not have a price that we then return back to people, that we return to communities, so that they can become more resilient in the face of these climate events, is folly,” she said.

Furstenau said closing a series of loopholes she sees in the current policy, including carbon offsets for companies, would bring in more than an extra $1 billion, which then could be used to increase the rebate sent to British Columbians.

“We will increase the price of carbon, but unlike before, we will not be a burden on the household budgets of people,” she said.

“Because with the rebate increasing, with the price of carbon being fair and applied to the biggest polluters the way it needs to be, people will see bigger rebates.”

Furstenau said a portion of the revenue would also go to municipalities, something that was requested by delegates at the Union of B.C. Municipalities Convention in the lead-up to the election campaign.

The Green leader said she’s not focused on how her policy position would mesh with the other leaders in the event of a minority government provincially.

“We are being transparent about where we stand. We are putting out evidence-based solutions. We want the other parties to catch up with us. I’m not focused on what is going to happen after the election,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2024.

Dirk Meissner and Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press