Property Tax Increase Proposed to Fund Affordable Housing in Vancouver

"Metro Vancouver is examining the prospect of raising property taxes by about $4 per household to fund construction of new affordable units," reports Jennifer Saltman.

The tax is estimated to raise $4 million a year, to fund partnerships between the regional district’s nonprofit housing corporation and member municipalities "to build housing on publicly owned vacant land."

"Metro’s housing portfolio includes 49 sites in 11 municipalities — about 3,400 units. The corporation uses rents, grant funding and property taxes to pay for operation and maintenance of those sites, along with redevelopment. The majority of the housing was constructed in the 1970s and 1980s," explains Saltman. "A new annual requisition of $4 million per year, or about $4 per household, could pay for at least 50 new units — or one four-storey apartment building — annually on bare municipal land."