BC to have one stop shop for housing permits

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VANCOUVER: British Columbia is adopting a “one-stop-shop” approach to housing-related permits to help speed up the approval process to build more homes, officials announced.

Currently, authorizations related to homebuilding in B.C. can require multiple provincial permit applications spanning different ministries like Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Forests, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, with different processes.

This includes permits related to riparian area approvals, water licences, transportation approvals, road rezonings, contaminated sites, and requirements for heritage inspections.

But under the new strategy government will create a single, co-ordinated approach to housing-related permits and authorization. This will speed up the process and eliminate the need for multiple applications across ministries.

The Permitting Strategy for Housing is supported by an initial investment of 42 new full-time positions. It will prioritize the housing that most urgently needs to be built, such as Indigenous-led projects, BC Housing applications and multiple-unit applications. Priority will also be given to authorizations and permit approvals for housing projects in municipalities that are subject to the speculation and vacancy tax, because they have the greatest housing shortages, lowest vacancy rates and most demand for housing.

While the single application window is being established over the coming months, permit and authorization decisions will be expedited through a cross-ministry team focused solely on processing housing permits. “The Housing Action Task Force includes decision-makers, information technology systems, project managers and policy support teams working together to speed up processing,” informed BC’s premier David Eby.

A co-ordinated provincial approach is also expected to make application reviews more streamlined for First Nations, which are consulted on each provincial authorization.

“Housing is a top priority for British Columbians and our government,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing. “We are working with municipalities to get more housing built faster. At the same time, we recognize that as a Province we have work to do to speed up our approvals. This new permitting approach is an important step in providing the homes people need.”