2004/05 - 2006/07 Service Plan -- Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services

Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Results — Continued

Goal 2: Housing needs and safe building standards are met.

Core Business Area:: Housing, Building and Safety.

During the past three years, low interest rates and rising consumer confidence have resulted in a thriving BC housing market. Multiple Listing Service resale transactions in 2003, exceeded the number of transactions in 2002 by about 13 per cent. Housing is expected to be one of the sectors leading the economic recovery of British Columbia. Affordability, however, continues to be an issue, with the average house priced at $258,926 in 2003 (January to November 2003 data). Moreover, the supply of rental housing has lagged far behind demand over recent years. Conventional market rental units accounted for only six per cent of all units built in 2002, despite the fact that renters made up 33 per cent of households.

Regarding activity in the building sector, housing starts are an excellent indicator of construction activity. BC is expected to have the highest percentage growth in housing starts nationally, with 24,600 expected for 2004. This represents an 11 per cent jump from 2002, as compared to other provinces which are expected to remain stagnant or decline.³

Objective 1:: The housing market thrives.⁴

The strategies below are intended to result in a housing market that is better able to meet the housing needs of British Columbians. While government's ability to influence the housing market is small, initiatives are being implemented to find ways to reduce impediments to affordable market housing and to support increased flexibility in housing development for builders and local governments. Supporting and encouraging local governments to better enable affordable housing development in their communities is also an important strategy, given the limited supply and relatively high cost of land in some jurisdictions.

Strategies:: 1. Implement initiatives to enable the housing industry to respond to needs.⁵; 2. Provide local governments with planning tools and guides on development of affordable housing.


³	Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation: http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/News/nere/2003/2003-05-14-1000.cfm
⁴	The strategies under Objectives 1 and 2 support the 2004/05 – 2006/07 Government Strategic Plan strategy to "Implement a provincial housing strategy to address market and non-market housing needs".
⁵	Examples of initiatives include improving the legitimacy and security of life lease housing and providing more flexible ways to fund new municipal infrastructure without placing an undue cost burden on affordable housing developments.

Measure	Baseline as indicated	Target 2004/05	Target 2005/06	Target 2006/07
Output: Specific housing industry indicators to be identified¹	Provincial Housing Policy approved in 2002/03¹	Key measures identified and data collected	Data collected and analyzed	Data collected and analyzed
Outcome: per cent of local governments using housing policy planning tools or guides²	30% in 2003	N/A	40%³	N/A


¹	Strategies identified in the Housing Policy still need to be assigned performance measures to gauge their effectiveness. Accordingly, a key output for 2004/05 will be to identify appropriate indicators.
²	One of the strategies used to increase housing options is to encourage local governments to develop and implement policies that will support the housing industry in continuing to build housing that meets diverse needs. Housing policy guides and tools are therefore made available to local governments. Our target is to increase use of the guides.
³	Survey is conducted every three years.

Objective 2:: The most vulnerable British Columbians are housed.

Not all British Columbians are able to find and afford suitable housing in the private market. The strategies below will increase the number of housing units that are produced through the Independent Living BC program and ensure that existing subsidized housing is effectively meeting the needs of the most vulnerable households.

Strategies:: 1. Increase the number of units subsidized under the Independent Living BC program.⁶; 2. Review existing programs to enhance housing for the most vulnerable.


⁶	Supports the 2004/05 – 2006/07 Government Strategic Plan strategy to "Provide greater choice of living options for Home and Community Care".

Measure	Baseline	Target 2004/05	Target 2005/06	Target 2006/07
Number of units of subsidized housing¹	41,614	1,271 new	1,095 new	TBA
Number of rent supplements provided²	15,100	500 new	0	TBA


¹	The administration of existing units and construction of new units is the direct responsibility of BC Housing to which the Ministry will transfer $142 million in 2004/05 and $142 million in 2005/2006. Housing and subsidies are funded under partnerships with other ministries, the federal government and other sources (e.g., Ministry of Health Services, local governments) and delivered through partnerships with the private and non-profit sectors. Refer to BC Housing Service Plan for further detail on housing programs and targets.
²	Includes Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER), Supported Independent Living (SIL) and other assistance.

Objective 3:: British Columbia has a modern building regulatory system for safe, healthy and accessible buildings.

Strategies for effective building policy focus on a sound, objective-based building regulatory system that is consistent with modern building industry practices and lessons learned from other jurisdictions.

Strategies:: 1. Participate in development of new objective-based building and plumbing codes.⁷; 2. Develop proposals for a modern, efficient building regulatory system.; 3. Establish and implement a mechanism for code interpretation services for all provincial users.


⁷	These strategies support the 2004/05 – 2006/07 Government Strategic Plan strategy to "Modernize safety legislation, regulations and code".

Measure	Baseline 2003/04	Target 2004/05	Target 2005/06	Target 2006/07
Output: Revised BC Building and Plumbing Code	BC Building Code, 2000	Code revisions in progress	Complete	N/A
Outcome: Benefits of an objective-based code are realized by users, as measured by
a) number stakeholders trained	a) 500	a) 2,000	a) N/A	a) N/A
b) the extent to which stakeholders realize benefits²	b) N/A	b) N/A	b) N/A	b) Majority surveyed agree benefits were achieved¹ (Survey in 2007/08)


¹	The survey to determine the extent to which this outcome has been achieved must be conducted at least two years after stakeholders have had a chance to use the new objective-based code, which is targeted to be adopted in 2004/05.
²	Previous measure of the number of code changes proposed was dropped since this work was completed in 2003/04.