B.C. Premier Eby to share plans for housing crisis

VICTORIA - British Columbia Premier David Eby is expected to announce his government's plans to take on the housing affordability crisis today.

Join Premier David Eby; Murray Rankin, Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing; Marianne Alto, mayor of Victoria; and Omama Shoib, a health-care worker, for an announcement about new actions to tackle the housing crisis. https://t.co/f6UG8vTtm1

— BC Government News (@BCGovNews) November 21, 2022

It's one of the issues Eby said he planned to tackle just moments after he was sworn in on Friday.

Eby, who was housing minister before running for premier, released a housing plan during his leadership campaign aimed at addressing affordability, targeting speculators and protecting renters.

His proposed plan would fast-track affordable housing by speeding approvals, use government land for some projects, make all secondary suites across the province legal and allow homebuilders to replace a single-family house with up to three units on the same lot.

Eby said on Friday that he planned to "hit the ground running" and then set out two one-time payments for residents, to help mitigate inflation pressures for residents.

Extra support with the cost of living is on the way:
• $100 credit on your power bill in Dec
• Savings of up to $550 per child per month on child care in Dec
• New BC Affordability Credit in Jan
• Increased BC Family Benefit for Jan-March 2023 https://t.co/DshgshYU1R pic.twitter.com/TKVlfmXA0E

— BC Government News (@BCGovNews) November 18, 2022

Yesterday, he announced a new public safety plan to increase enforcement on repeat violent offenders and expand mental-health crisis response teams.