Local government housing initiatives

Learn about planned changes to help build more homes faster.

Historically, zoning bylaws and rules in many communities in B.C. have made it difficult to build the type of housing that works for people. New housing has been built primarily in the form of tall condo towers or single-family homes on traditional lots. For many, these homes are out of reach for people and families looking to enter the housing market.

The B.C. Legislature has passed several pieces of comprehensive legislation that change the local government land use planning framework to enable local governments to provide more housing, in the right places, faster. Learn more about the legislation, regulations and policy manuals for:

New local government tools 

Bill 16 Housing Statutes Amendment Act

Collectively, these amendments to the Local Government Act and Vancouver Charter will support getting more homes built for British Columbians.

To support local governments to adopt the changes, the Province has provided $51 million in capacity funding. Read more about the funding in the guide (PDF, 220KB).

The Province has also committed another $10 million to the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) for a second intake of the application-based Local Government Development Approvals Program (LGDAP). The LGDAP funding is to support local government-initiated projects to improve their development approvals processes. The deadline for applications for the second intake is March 8, 2024.

The Province has provided $500,000 over three years to the Planning Institute of British Columbia (PIBC) to establish a Peer Learning Network (PLN) for local government staff. PLN participants will share knowledge, best practices, and experiences to adopt the new legislation.

On April 3, 2024, new legislation was introduced to support local governments in their efforts to build more affordable and livable communities. The proposed legislation strengthens the shift towards pro-active planning by providing local governments with new authorities to secure affordable units and site-level infrastructure in new developments and to enable municipalities to adopt bylaws to help tenants facing eviction from redevelopment. Read the full news release.