Developers push Metro Vancouver to pause rising development costs

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Metro Vancouver development cost charges are back, uh, in the spotlight, and this time some of the region's biggest builders are saying the math simply doesn't work anymore. Uh, Polygon Homes, along with a couple of other developers, sent a blunt letter to the Metro Vancouver Board warning that scheduled DCC increases are pushing already fragile projects over the edge. Pre-sales are stalling, costs are piling up, and developers argue that higher fees right now don't punish developers, they punish future renters, buyers, and workers in an already undersupplied market. Well, joining me now to talk about this issue is Robert Bruno, Executive Vice President at Polygon Homes. Robert, thank you so much for your time today.

And thank you for having me.

Well, let's start with the urgency, first of all. Why did you feel the need to write the letter now as opposed to waiting for, waiting out the review process?

Well, I, I, I think the, the sense of urgency is, isn't new, Jas. It's something that we've been, we've been preaching and, and, and trying to work on, um, for, for over 18 months now. Um, dating back to 2023 when the original, um, review was done that came up with the current DCC rates, uh, we were... We felt that the industry consultation was rather late and we weren't really given a fair leg up to discuss those rates. Um, we tried our best, but when they were implicated, we warned, um, that we were already going into a down market and that they needed to adjust, um, their assumptions.

Mm-hmm.

I believe there's, um, a real strong tide, uh, particularly at the municipal level, um, to make some exciting changes to help development, acknowledging that we are, um, in a housing crisis, and right now we're in a cost of delivery crisis. We simply can't deliver homes at values that the purchasers can afford. And unfortunately, uh, the recent step up, as we call it, um, in Metro Vancouver fees has, um, basically eliminated the savings that we've seen, um, from many of the same board members who vote for these savings municipally.

Yeah. I remember having, uh, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke on the show, and she was talking about how many approvals that they've had in the City of Surrey. I then asked her how many pe- well, th- those very homes that they've approved are getting built, and she admitted it's tough out there right now. Uh, and so just to confirm for our audience, cities have reduced their development cost charges, uh, because they see what's happening in the market. Even though they approve homes, they're not getting built. What you're saying is whatever the decrease that they've offered, the Metro Vancouver government has come along, the board has come along, and increased those