B.C. offers one-stop-shop for housing permits

The B.C. government has announced what they call a “one-stop shop for provincial permitting” to speed up approvals for new homes.

Premier David Eby told a news conference the new process will eliminate the need for multiple applications to various ministries and create a single, co-ordinated approach to housing-related permits and authorization, to allow more people to get into new homes faster.

Eby said the investment will include the hiring of 42 new full time staff as part of a housing action task force.

“Part of the work of what this team is going to do is around identifying high impact projects,” Eby explained. “It could be BC Housing projects, affordable housing projects, Indigenous housing projects, multi-unit housing, purpose-built rental; the kind of housing that we desperately need, and moving them through the process as it stands right now, so they are expedited through the process and they get priority.”

Eby said provincial permit processes for large developments currently can last years, and municipal processes add time as well.

“We think we can take months, and even years, off the provincial permitting processes for major developments by reforming the permit system,” Eby remarked.

The premier said the current average approval time is two years at the provincial level and the goal is to improve on that, but he notes each proposal is different.

Rick Ilich, CEO of Townline Homes, calls the changes a step in the right direction that should help reduce the timeline for getting provincial permits.

“Just having a process to consolidate the processes and to know there is somebody’s eye on it, will shave months and months, and without question, maybe years. We have had files that have taken years,” Ilich said.

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the work will also address the current backlog in permits and improving the system.

“I think we can come to a place in the very near future where somebody applying for a building permit knows up front what is required of them, knows up front how much it will cost, and knows up front how much time it will take to get that approval done,” Kahlon told the news conference.