Who's standing up for us?
Hello Friends and Neighbours,
I was originally going to reply to Mark’s repost of the Delta Optimist article where BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon announced his desire for Delta to adopt blanket bylaw changes. However, I believe this subject deserves it's own post. (And for the record, despite some issues with the Optimist’s early OCP coverage back in early 2024, they’ve lately become a much better source for what’s really happening locally, so credit where it’s due. I check their website everyday.)
A quick recap: Last week, BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon stood shoulder to shoulder with Anne McMullin, President and CEO of the Urban Development Institute (UDI) - a glorified lobbyist group for developers - and, together with Mayors George Harvie and Brenda Locke, announced that DCCs (the fees collected to help pay for public infrastructure for new developments) can now be deferred. In other words, it just got even easier and cheaper for developers to keep doing what they’ve been doing for years in BC.
Fast forward to this week: Now the Minister wants Delta to adopt blanket bylaws changing setbacks, heights, floor space ratios, and more, to help “stimulate” smaller-scale development.
One of these announcements has much bigger implications than the other. Deferring DCC fees means the costs for these big, UDI-backed developments will fall even harder on taxpayers. Developers get more time to figure out how to pay their share, while regular people, those who don’t have the ear of the Housing Minister or a lobbyist at the press conference, get stuck with higher taxes and crumbling public services.
So why am I bringing this up? I went to the public info session about these new bylaws, and my biggest takeaway was: why didn’t we start with this? Why did we rush to bulldoze our OCP, taking on massive liabilities, instead of working with residents and local builders on small-scale, sensible changes that could gently densify our neighbourhoods while creating real jobs and enriching our communities?
The answer seems obvious. When you see the President of UDI standing next to our Minister at the podium, it’s clear where the priorities are. Our elected officials aren’t focused on us - they’re focused on big money and keeping the real estate machine rolling until there’s nothing left to squeeze. They get the profits, and we get the responsibilities dumped on us.
For those paying attention, there’s another bill, Bill 46, that was supposed to address these exact concerns. Yet we never hear about it. I reached out to the Housing Minister’s office for more information and, after two months, got the classic “check our website for more information” response.
During the latest announcement, the Minister painted a rosy picture of three friends buying a house and building a three-unit complex together. Nice idea, but until these elected officials show they actually care about the “little guy,” I wouldn’t buy it.
To end on a positive note: I’m doing my own research into what it’ll actually take to fix this mess. Real solutions start with empowering city staff to study our neighbourhoods, figure out what infrastructure and amenities we actually need, and create a transparent, responsible fee structure based on those needs - so we can fund what’s required to maintain our city, our spaces, and our quality of life while giving developers an honest fee structure that won't change at the drop of a dime. If you think this is the way forward, this is where one of the areas that your attention should be directed.
With all that being said, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying this beautiful summer we are having.
Until next time,
Alex