Todd Stone Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure

Vancouver: BC Liberal Housing Critic Todd Stone is calling on John Horgan and the NDP to increase housing supply in the Lower Mainland after recent reports show that despite NDP promises, housing prices in the Lower Mainland continue to remain unaffordable to most British Columbians.

“The NDP wants to claim victory over the state of the market, but they are dead wrong,” said Stone. “Housing prices in the Lower Mainland are still 10 per cent higher than they were three years ago, and rather than taking measures to actually improve the situation—such as increasing housing supply where it is desperately needed—John Horgan and his government are busy celebrating non-existent achievements.”

New reports from the Royal Bank of Canada and the BC Real Estate Association suggest that the housing market is heating up again and housing prices will begin to increase next year—even after the NDP has made efforts to ensure this would not happen.

“These reports demonstrate how ineffective NDP housing policy has been since they formed government,” concluded Stone. “They have promised British Columbians more options and greater affordability while delivering the opposite. British Columbians looking to purchase homes in the Lower Mainland are no better off than they were when the NDP first came to power.”

A recent report by BC Housing revealed that more than half of the housing projects announced by the NDP have no funding committed to them. It is time for the NDP to take real action on affordability and increase housing supply.