Prime Minister Mark Carney and B.C. Premier David Eby announced $5 billion in spending on housing infrastructure in British Columbia on Thursday, including $3.2 billion over 10 years to reduce municipal development charges.
Funding Details and Impact
Joined by federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson and B.C. Housing Minister Christine Boyle, the leaders said the new funding aims to accelerate housing development and create jobs in construction and skilled trades. The investment is part of Ottawa's $51 billion national infrastructure fund, known as the Build Communities Strong Fund.
“Development charges are one of the biggest barriers to new homes. These fees charged to developers help fund infrastructure like water mains, roads, parks, and community facilities,” Carney said.
B.C. and Ottawa will each contribute half of the $3.2 billion to lower development charges. In “priority communities,” multi-unit housing projects could see development charges reduced by up to half, or to a maximum of $40,000 per development.
Additional Health and Priority Project Funding
Beyond housing, the announcement included $1.2 billion—split equally between Ottawa and the province—for health infrastructure improvements, such as emergency rooms and urgent care centres. An additional $50 million was earmarked for priority projects in Terrace and Prince Rupert.
Reactions and Concerns
B.C. Conservative housing critic Linda Hepner expressed caution, stating that “the devil will be in the details” and that not enough is known about how the development charge reduction program will work. She emphasized that municipalities must be brought on board and compensated for lowering their charges.
“It’s always a problem when they’re not made whole,” Hepner said. “I don’t know what kind of discussion the province has had on what that actually looks like. My guess is it hasn't happened at all. But it’s critical that municipal governments know how they’re expected to deliver.”
UBC professor Tom Davidoff noted that it makes sense for Ottawa to subsidize housing-supporting infrastructure, but warned that both federal and provincial governments must be careful in distributing funds to municipalities. He cautioned that without proper oversight, municipalities might pocket the money without genuinely lowering development charges.
“There’s going to have to be some attempt by senior governments to say: if you get this money, you’ll charge less in development cost charges than you would have otherwise. But that’s complicated, and governments can do all kinds of things to grab profits from development,” Davidoff said.
