I had to share this one because it’s easily the worst housing affordability proposal that I can recall being pitched by a leader of a Canadian political party.
> Government should not be taxing your primary issues, like your residences. Government should not be in the way of making sure that people can be able to put a roof over their head, making sure that people can have that safe will, safe places, and making sure that people can have that dream of owning a home
And without revenues from the vast majority of residential property taxes, how will municipalities ever be able to afford to provide services and maintain existing infrastructure, let alone build? They’ll have to increase fees, non-residential taxes, or rely on more provincial revenues; _or_ simply succumb to decay and decrepitude.
There is no free lunch, we will pay for it somehow. Or we won’t have it at all.
> The rebate would exempt up to $3,000 a month in housing costs from provincial income taxes. The program would begin in 2026 at $1,500 per month and then grow by $500 every year after that.
Which is to say, rents and mortgages would be subsidized _up to_ $3000/mo; which would in effect increase the price floor for housing in British Columbia. This would ultimately become a handout to landlords and those selling their primary residences to emigrate from BC.
> “What my hope is, over the long term, we need to significantly build out rent capacity in British Columbia so that the market can stabilize, so they can put a reasonable amount of vacancy that’ll help to stabilize prices and bring down prices.”
> “Once you get to that place [of rent stabilization], then that’s something you need to look at doing, is remove rent control,” he said.
Just… Wow.
This is the new low, I think, for dismally poor housing affordability platforms.
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I had to share this one because it’s easily the worst housing affordability proposal that I can recall being pitched by a leader of a Canadian political party.
> Government should not be taxing your primary issues, like your residences. Government should not be in the way of making sure that people can be able to put a roof over their head, making sure that people can have that safe will, safe places, and making sure that people can have that dream of owning a home
And without revenues from the vast majority of residential property taxes, how will municipalities ever be able to afford to provide services and maintain existing infrastructure, let alone build? They’ll have to increase fees, non-residential taxes, or rely on more provincial revenues; _or_ simply succumb to decay and decrepitude.
There is no free lunch, we will pay for it somehow. Or we won’t have it at all.
> The rebate would exempt up to $3,000 a month in housing costs from provincial income taxes. The program would begin in 2026 at $1,500 per month and then grow by $500 every year after that.
Which is to say, rents and mortgages would be subsidized _up to_ $3000/mo; which would in effect increase the price floor for housing in British Columbia. This would ultimately become a handout to landlords and those selling their primary residences to emigrate from BC.
Now consider his [stated desire to remove rent controls](https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/09/20/Rustad-Zoning-Reforms-Rent-Control/):
> “What my hope is, over the long term, we need to significantly build out rent capacity in British Columbia so that the market can stabilize, so they can put a reasonable amount of vacancy that’ll help to stabilize prices and bring down prices.”
> “Once you get to that place [of rent stabilization], then that’s something you need to look at doing, is remove rent control,” he said.
Just… Wow.
This is the new low, I think, for dismally poor housing affordability platforms.