The cost of the housing development fund is listed as $5 million a year, which amounts to just under $5 per household
Metro Vancouver will consider cutting a housing development fund and zero-waste program at a board meeting on Friday.
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The review is part of budget planning for 2026 and attempts by Metro’s board to look for savings, but some have described the exercise as a drop in the bucket compared to the organization’s full spending.
In a report to the board, the cost of the housing development fund is listed as $5 million a year, which amounts to just under $5 per household.
Metro Vancouver uses the $5 million to provide $50 million in equity over 10 years to support partnerships with member jurisdictions to build housing on public land and to redevelop existing sites to achieve greater density near transit.
Since 2019, this $5 million-a-year contribution has leveraged about $151.8 million in external funding for two housing projects and contributed funding for four Metro Vancouver housing redevelopment projects under construction. These projects have leveraged a further $236.4 million in external funds.
The fund goes back to 2019 when the board adopted a 10-year housing plan. A major component of the plan was a new funding source in the form of an annual $4 million tax requisition dedicated to developing new, affordable projects on land owned by the region or by its members. The $4 million augmented an existing $1 million annual tax requisition that supported the redevelopment of existing Metro Vancouver housing sites.
Two projects, which are both in the construction stage, were enabled by leveraging the fund to bring in external backers. One project in Pitt Meadows consists of 115 homes and a 10,000-sq.-ft. childcare space. The other project in Burnaby consists of 122 homes and a 4,200-sq.-ft. childcare space.
These projects would not be impacted if the Metro board decided to discontinue the Housing Development Fund in 2026 and beyond.
However, a third project in the District of North Vancouver may be at risk, and the rollout of other redevelopment projects would be slower than anticipated.
Overall, discontinuing the fund could lead to forgoing external grants that come from leveraging the fund, cancelling housing projects on Metro Vancouver land, and delivering fewer non-market homes.
The housing plan is primarily funded by rents collected from tenants and there is an annual surplus from which to continue. But discontinuing the fund would slow the number of affordable homes that can be delivered.
A letter from Vancity Community Foundation to the Metro board urged it to preserve the fund.
“Public investment, particularly from a regional entity like Metro Vancouver, is essential to ensuring that new non-market homes continue to be built in the region at a time when affordability has never been more precarious. Stepping back from this work would mean fewer affordable homes at a time when demand is skyrocketing,” wrote Vancity communications and advocacy director Alvin Singh.
The board’s budget planning process is also looking at zero-waste initiatives, which includes participation in a national council, a biennial conference and campaigns to change practices that help to manage solid waste, such as food waste, single-use items and textiles.
The budget for these in 2025 was $1.9 million. The net cost is $1.65 million in 2025 based on a projected $250,000 being generated from conference attendance fees and savings from moving to a one-day format.
A number of organizations, agencies and members of the public wrote letters in support of the zero-waste initiatives, seeing them as part of climate policy programs.
“Penny wise, pound foolish,” wrote Vancouver resident Belinda Li. “If you try to skimp on things that cost inconsequential amounts of money (like zero waste and climate action) while missing out on seeing what’s really costing you a lot more money (infrastructure), you ultimately end up spending more money.”