The province is refreshing some of their procedures for construction approval in a bid to get more homes built in B.C. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

PERMIT APPROVAL

Provincial government eyeing more housing construction with refreshed approvals process

Jan 16, 2023 | 11:42 AM

NANAIMO — Changes to the way required construction permit applications are handled at the provincial level are hoping to have a positive effect on housing supply in B.C.

Premier David Eby announced a slate of new measures the provincial government is taking to speed up approvals and get construction going on more homes.

“On many occasions, I’ve asked municipalities to speed up housing applications to get more people into new homes faster,” Eby said during the Monday, Jan. 16 announcement. “It’s only right if we’re looking to them that we also look to ourselves.”

Changes include a new permitting strategy which the province says will streamline the process to gain the appropriate authorizations from the province.

A single application and process will work across multiple ministries, ending the previous practice of applying to a variety of government departments for the same project.

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Labelled the “Housing Action Task Force”, the group will feature industry experts to quickly move through applications and speed up processing.

“These steps will also help us undertake the broader transformation of B.C.’s permitting regime, which will take time as we engage in consultation with First Nations and our industry partners so we do it right,” Eby added.

Ministry for water, land and resource stewardship will lead the task force under minister Nathan Cullen.

“This team includes decision makers, project managers, IT specialists and other experts on hand to support housing applications right away,” Cullen said.

A total of 42 full time positions will be filled, however, under the current make-up, the team has a capacity for over 200.

Changes at the provincial level are in addition to streamlining processes locally, with the provincial government pushing municipalities to refine their processes in a bid to greenlight more housing projects.

Final number for 2022 will be presented to Nanaimo Council at a later date, however the City was on track for a record year as of the summer with $319 million in projects approved for construction.

The record for construction value in a year is $445 set in 2019.

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