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British Columbia is in the grips of a housing affordability crisis decades in the making. The Province has an ambitious plan to tackle the crisis through the largest investment in housing affordability in B.C.’s history. Tasked with building tens of thousands of homes in hundreds of communities is BC Housing, the agency responsible for developing, managing, and administering a wide range of subsidized housing and homelessness services across the province. BC Housing doesn’t do this alone, they work with hundreds of partners. In this podcast, you’ll hear from those tackling the crisis head on.
Even on my most frustrating days, I feel really lucky to be surrounded by so many thoughtful, compassionate, creative people trying to solve these problems together. And that gives me a lot of hope. A home. It's something we all need. But for too many, having a safe place to make a home is out of reach. The challenges can seem insurmountable. And yet, each and every day, people are coming together to provide safe, quality and affordable housing for those in need.
Welcome to today's episode of Let's Talk Housing. I'm your host, Mita Naidu. I'd like to respectfully acknowledge that I'm joining you from the ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations, where this episode was filmed. I'm very excited for today's conversation with the Honorable Christine Boyle, British Columbia's new Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs.
As she steps into this important role, we'll talk about what matters most to people across the province. More homes, affordability and stability. And how her leadership will guide the next phase of BC Housing strategy. For transparency, this episode is being recorded in November of 2025 and reflects the issues and priorities of that time. Minister Boyle, welcome to Let's Talk Housing. Thanks. Thanks for having me on. Yeah. Thank you for joining us.
I'd like to know a little bit about your role before you became minister, a little bit about yourself, your story. Before becoming minister, you spent years, you know, working closely with communities at the municipal level. How have those experiences kind of influenced the way you think about housing today? Thanks. I feel really lucky to be bringing lots of different experiences and stories into the role that I'm in now and such an honor to be in this role. was a city counselor in Vancouver for six years before being elected provincially in the riding of Vancouver Little Mountain. At the council table, I was really focused on affordable housing and equity and affordability, as well as climate action.
and climate resilience. And I think they all weave together in really key ways. But not just that, before being elected into local government, I spent a number of years working in the downtown Eastside as a frontline outreach worker at a pretty low barrier shelter. And before that was a youth worker in East Vancouver working with some really incredible families.
who were struggling to stay in Vancouver got to in that role and in my work in the down-hungry side work with the local nations, but also a lot of incredible urban indigenous folks and organizations. So all of those people and their stories and experiences and my work experiences seeing what was needed in those different roles have continued to feed into my work. I think about and draw from that all of the time. And then my first position in being elected provincially was as the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and that too I'm so grateful to be bringing into the role of Housing and Municipal Affairs because this housing work is really so deeply about relationships and partnerships to me and so I work closely with local governments and I work closely with the community housing sector and with industry and with folks on the ground advocating for housing in their communities and supporting those who are struggling in need at most. I love doing that work and I get to work with so many good people and it is hard, but I couldn't feel more lucky and fired up about getting to do this work.
We don't know each other. if I was to say, Minister, what are your core values? So you've mentioned advocacy, you've mentioned equity. What are some other core values that you think describe you? what a good question. do think it's really particularly in this work for me about seeing the dignity in people, seeing the good in people and creating the systems and structures that allow people to thrive.
Housing is such a central part of that. We know that people need a safe, dignified place to rest their head in order to be able to be healthy and be able to contribute more in their community and all of these key things. that dignity of everyone is what drives me and then all of the work that we get to do in order to ensure.
healthy communities and a strong economy and safety and vibrancy across the province comes from that. Our strength as a province, and I hear the Premier Eby say this all the time, is really in the people of B.C. and so our work on the housing front is central to allowing people to be their best and make us all a better province together.
your sense of purpose. And that's something I can promise you, and I've been here two years, so I'm relatively new to BC Housing. But that sense of purpose is what fuels most of us here as well. There are so many challenges in this work and in this area that if you didn't have that sense of purpose, it's not for the faint of heart. And that's what drives a lot of us here as well.
And to kind of jump into those challenges, you we know that housing costs continue to be a challenge for so many people in BC, all across BC. Can you share some of the highlights, some of the main actions that the province is taking to support affordability for renters and home buyers? Absolutely. We have been, as a government, laser focused on bringing down housing costs for people and building on our efforts to protect renters. Again, I always think about the stories that I hear, the stories that I continue to hear as I do this work across the province, what that means like for a senior on a pension, what that means for young family with young kids planning out a future and looking for stability and everything in between the construction worker commuting too far because there aren't homes in the community where they're working.
That has been our focus, bringing down housing costs, allowing people to find a home that they can afford in the community that they love. We've been doing that through rent subsidies programs like the rental assistance program, shelter aid for elderly renters safer. We've been doing that through the rental protection fund, protecting nearly 1600 homes through BC with a $5 million capital.
investment to ensure that existing affordable rental homes aren't being lost to the private market. We've been supporting the creation of Canada's first province-wide rent bank at $21 million in funding to give interest-free loans to tenants in urgent financial need. So a lot on the rental side. We're also doing some exciting work around attainable home ownership.
or what we have been calling AHI, Attainable Housing Initiative, working with Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations on land, actually in my riding of Vancouver Little Mountain on the Heatherlands. The nations have done an incredible job designing what that will look like, we're working on structures that will see government.
investment that pays part of a mortgage to make the mortgage more affordable upfront and then the investment is paid back over time. So some creative stuff on attainable home ownership and overall reducing costs by delivering more homes across the affordability spectrum and getting speculators out of our housing market to make sure homes are being lived in. All of this is making a difference. We're seeing rents go down. We're seeing
They can see rates go up and we know we need to keep doing more of it. I've been watching rental stats as well and they definitely have been dropping, especially over this last month. It's really good news.
People still say, you know, build more homes faster, right? That is what we're hearing, you know, on the front lines in our inboxes, in our emails. What does that actually look like in practice? What does that mean? One of the things that I am so proud of about our provincial governments work on this front is really leaving no stone unturned. So like I said, we work closely with local governments and we've been really leading the country in terms of eliminating restrictive zoning and allowing more housing options in communities across the province. And then we're using some exciting new tools to get there to innovations like standardized designs and prefab construction. We launched the building permit hub in 2024.
which is a tool in partnership with local governments to get permits moved through the process more quickly through some digitized approvals so that permit approval can take days instead of weeks or months. That results in you and I, workers, families, seniors being able to walk through the door of a home more quickly. BC Builds is a great example of that, which is work in partnership with BC Housing at Fast Tracks rental homes for middle-income workers by leveraging public and low-cost land and speeding up development timelines, low-interest construction loans, financing and grants. Through BC Builds, we already have about 4,000 homes underway across the province.
Then we're doing some really interesting work on mass timber and prefab as well. Innovative construction methods both allow us to get more value out of our forests and create more local jobs through every tree harvested in BC. We have 20 demonstration projects and eight research projects through the mass timber demonstration project. We're seeing more happen on that front, which is good news for housing, it's good news for climate, it's good news for forestry and our local economy. I could go on and on. Let me give you one last example on this front, which is Dash, short for the digitally accelerated standardized housing initiative. It's a made in BC online platform helping nonprofits, home builders and developers design and construct three to six story buildings more quickly in at a lower cost using products manufactured in BC. So again, helping get people moved into homes more quickly and supporting the local economy and deepening affordability. Really good and creative and innovative work that's happening all in the service of homes for people. It's fascinating because I think the mythology out there is that BC housing and the province only really focus on affordable housing.
But it's so diverse. The programs are so wide ranging from sustainability to standardized designs to digital acceleration. And there's just so much happening beyond sustainable and affordable housing. There's so much happening. It's all so connected. I think that so deeply at every line in the way that we build to the types of communities that we build. I think a lot about affordability, of course, and also about climate and climate resiliency and the tools and the solutions really need to be woven together. And I think we have so many examples in BC of how that is happening well. that speaks to your core values again, right?
We recently recorded an episode and we brought forward some of the community workers that are really doing amazing things to support tenants. And as someone in a separate wing of BC Housing work, I was really blown away by the way, you know, the province through BC Housing really connects to community and is building community and supporting community itself. What role do these kind of supports and community programs and wraparound services
play in making housing as a whole, you know, successful. It's so important. We know that people having a safe and dignified place to rest their head is a, like I've said, a really central first piece. And one of the things that enables is people connecting with supports and services that they need. We all rely on other people and helping people come indoors and make those connections is so critical and I, again, I feel so lucky for all of the people that I get to work with up close and from a distance. And so I often get to hear from or meet folks on the ground who are providing support for tenants who are advocating for housing solutions at every level and to see that passion and purpose. As you say, it's critical. know, we, we know
For example, the data proves and points out that supportive housing helps communities by reducing incarceration rates by close to 84 % compared to those experiencing homelessness, reduces hospital emissions by close to 32%, reduces the need for ER visits by nearly 70 % compared to those experiencing homelessness. So just that work of getting people inside and connecting them makes a difference for those individuals and for our broader communities. We know that's the answer and the people need a spectrum of housing and supports as they get back on their feet. It's not linear, we need to be able to bring people inside and welcome and support them and then support them along that journey. The folks who are doing that human-to-human work are really who make it possible.
a huge benefit to our neighbors who are most struggling, but really to our broader communities as well.
It was really so moving to hear about how some of these programs are connecting people to stay housed. There was stories about communal kitchens and maternal services and neighborhood watch and, you know, just so much support that matters to people and keeps them housed in a good way. And speaking of that, you know, what gives you hope right now? I felt
filled with hope daily, but what gives you hope? I feel so lucky for all the good people I get to work with. And I, like I said, see it all the way along the line, folks really working grassroots and frontline in their communities, supporting our neighbors who are most struggling or doing that advocacy work. I am a nerd for local government and I know how hard those jobs are. And so I'm incredibly grateful.
for the work I get to do with local governments. And it's not always easy, but their jobs aren't easy. And so I'm happy to just get to be in partnership and in conversation with mayors and councils and regional districts around the province. I, in every one of those conversations, see the passion that those folks bring to the work as well. We have great folks.
working in BC Housing, working in my ministry in Housing and Municipal Affairs. I have so many good colleagues in the legislature who bring the challenges and stories from their home communities to the table in Victoria and are really working hard on making life better for people across BC. And in the broader housing space, the community housing sector and really creative folks innovating.
on housing solutions, all of it. Even on my most frustrating days, and that happens, I feel really lucky to be surrounded by so many thoughtful, compassionate, creative people trying to solve these problems together. That gives me a lot of hope. I'm always happy to just dive back into it alongside good people and keep trying to move the needle forward.
Seeing that that's happening and rents going down and more people being able to find a home gives me hope that we are on the right path. There's a long way still to go, but I am glad to get to play my part while I can in moving that forward. I'm always happy to get a chance to say thank you to all of those folks, everyone who is doing their piece in their place to support those struggling most, to advocate for and implement solutions, to build the kind of strong and welcoming and safe communities that allow people to thrive, that connect us to one another, that ensure that a senior on a pension has a solid home and a young family has a place to grow up and they know the people around them and students and workers and folks across our province are able to.
rest their head well at night and that that work doesn't happen by anyone alone. So just feel full of gratitude for everyone doing their piece of that. Thank you so much. Yeah, I really appreciate it getting to know you a little bit and hearing about your values and what you believe in and your thoughtful insights on housing and its future. Glad for the conversation. Yeah. Yeah. that's wonderful. And I think it's clear that, you know, delivering homes
faster and more affordably and more innovatively, you know, is going to take coordination across every level of government, like you're saying, and your leadership is a big part of that. And we like hearing from our leaders and who they are. So, yeah, I really appreciated your chat today with us. Thank you. Thanks so much. To learn more about BC Housing, including how to apply for subsidized housing in British Columbia, visit www.bchousing.org.
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