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The combined annual budget for the two grant programs will total almost $1.1 billion this year. Despite that large commitment of funds, they will fail to meaningfully address the most important social policy issue B.C. currently faces — the crisis of housing affordability for so many of our residents. The grants will provide too little for those in greatest need and an unnecessary, even if welcome, amount for those not in need.

It is time for a markedly different approach.

Meaningfully addressing the housing crisis will require a large amount of government resources. Certainly, politically popular foreign buyers and other such tax measures can be taken to reduce speculative and foreign demand for housing. But as housing policy analysts and advocates have argued for some time, what is desperately needed are government incentives and investments that support major increases in the supply of affordable rental units and other housing — supply that market forces alone are not providing.

There is also the need to expand income support and anti-poverty measures so that more individuals and families have the basic amount of resources needed to secure decent housing. As tax policy expert Rhys Kesselman has argued, a refundable tax credit targeted to low-income families, like the GST or child tax credit, would be far better in this regard than the homeowners grant.

And of course, there is the need to address the disgraceful extent of homelessness not only in Vancouver but in cities and towns throughout the province. Major investments in basic housing and greatly expanded support services are urgently required.

The financial challenge for government will be great. And that in turn will require government to be ever more efficient in the programs and expenditures it is currently making. There is no justification for the $1.1 billion government is now budgeting for what was originally and continues to be a crassly political, poorly designed grant program. There is an immediate need for those funds to be better targeted and spent.

Marvin Shaffer is a consulting economist and adjunct professor in the Public Policy Program at Simon Fraser University.