The City of Burnaby is working with the Liberal party to secure some of the modular housing announced by the federal government, Mayor Mike Hurley said.
The federal government announced, in late September, a $1-billion commitment to building modular housing as part of a rapid housing initiative. The program is similar to one in progress since the BC NDP formed the provincial government in 2017 in that it seeks to quickly build housing for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Between acquiring land and building the housing, the federal government estimates it will build 3,000 units of below-market housing.
“(We’ve) been all over that one. We’ve sent a list of possible sites where we could receive some help from the feds,” Hurley said. “We’re just waiting for them to put out the application process, which they haven’t done yet.”
The city is “certainly in line,” Hurley said, although he remained cautious about whether the city would receive any of those units.
“I always hear all these announcements about money, but trying to get the money always seems to be the issue,” Hurley said.
The Vancouver Sun reported in early September that B.C. gets only 0.5% of federal housing funding – $7 million compared to Ontario’s $1.4 billion – despite making up roughly 13% of the country’s population and experiencing some of the most acute housing troubles in Canada.
“(The numbers) sound about right to me,” Hurley said, adding that he has worked with Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech on the issue. “In fairness to Terry, he’s trying his best to cut through it just like I am, and he’s trying to work with me to get us the funding we need. … It’s just a bureaucracy that’s not easy to cut through.”
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