NDP leadership candidate David Eby proposes Flipping Tax, secondary suite changes to address housing

NDP leadership candidate David Eby has laid up a broad, aggressive plan to address housing affordability in the province.

In his first major policy announcement of the NDP leadership race, Eby said if he becomes premier he will impost a B.C. Flipping Tax to apply on the sale of a residential property.

The tax will be highest for those who hold properties for the shortest period of time, and phases out after two years and goes down to zero the longer the property is held.

The tax will include exemptions for life circumstances due to, for example, death, employment loss, divorce, or disability.

Builders will also be exempted to encourage housing construction.

“The objective is to prevent flipping rather than generate revenue to a select few, therefore there will be significant notice in advance of implementation to allow people to sell their investment properties and increase housing supply in the market,” a policy document from the Eby campaign reads.

“Because this is designed to discourage real estate speculation, any revenue will go back into building homes for British Columbians.”

Eby served as B.C.’s housing minister from 2020 until he resigned to launch his leadership campaign. The perceived front runner in the leadership race gained name recognition as an opposition MLA for his policies to address the province’s affordability crisis leading up to the 2017 provincial election.

Anjali Appadurai is the only other candidate challenging Eby in the leadership race. She has not yet officially been cleared to run in the race.

The plan also calls for a change at the provincial level requiring homebuilders in major urban centers to be allowed to replace a single-family home with up to three units on the same footprint.

The homes will have to be consistent with existing setbacks and height requirements.

Under Eby’s government, the province will also step in and ensure secondary suites will be made legal in every region of the province.

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Reforms to municipal approvals processes outlined in the Development Approvals Review Process report will also be implemented urgently in partnership with municipalities.

“Housing should first and foremost provide homes for people, not profits for investors,” Eby said.

“We’ve made progress by taxing speculation and building thousands of new homes, but across this province, I see the desperate need to do much more to bring down the costs of housing.”

To build new homes, Eby is proposing a new initiative called B.C. Builds using partnerships, the province’s legal powers, financing ability, and public land, to fast-track the construction of affordable, middle-class housing in rural towns and urban cities.

B.C. Builds will include a special focus on Indigenous Housing, both on and off reserve.

Eby will also establish a new Rental Housing Acquisition Fund deploying $500 million in capital support to partner with First Nations, non-profits, and co-ops to buy and protect at-risk affordable rental housing and discourage speculation by investors.

This will be paired with new tools to crack down on speculators, seize the proceeds of crime when they flow into real estate, close loopholes, and freeze short-term profit-making through a new flipping tax.

The sweeping policy announcement will build on the 30-part housing plan the current government is implementing.

There is no mention in the housing plan of the $400 renters rebate promised by John Horgan in the last two provincial elections.

Additional parts of the Eby housing plan:

• Provincial permitting for housing will be ‘one-stop’ and simplified.
• Strata restrictions on rentals will be removed.
• The 19+ age restrictions in some strata will be abolished so that young families don’t have to move out if they have a child.
• Strata restrictions for ‘seniors only’ will remain in place to ensure seniors have accessible retirement communities.
• Municipalities’ ‘housing needs plans’ will be used to set minimum standards for housing delivery.
• Short-term rental companies will be required to provide cities and regions with information about unlicensed short-term rental units in their community.
• Double B.C.’s capital grants for non-profits to allow shovel-ready projects in high-need communities.
• Increase the Indigenous Housing Fund and engage further First Nations and Indigenous-led housing groups to fund, build, and/or support housing for Indigenous people both in and away from traditional communities.
• Increase staff support and services for people living in supportive housing including culturally appropriate programming, treatment, and care for residents.
• Establishing by law a right of first refusal for acquiring at-risk homes and secure renters’ housing.
• Using tools like upzoning select parcels in participating partner municipalities, in combination with the government’s favourable lending rates, and matched with expedited approvals.
• Affordability must be built-in long-term for all projects, including when homes are sold.
• Using the Cullen Commission recommendation to create a new enforcement tool will allow investigations into suspicious real estate transactions.
• Purchasers suspected of organized crime will be forced to explain how they got the money to buy properties, and properties that are purchased with the proceeds of crime will be seized to fund public programs.

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