THE BC Urban Mayors’ Caucus, a coalition of 13 non-partisan Mayors representing more than half the population of British Columbia, in response to the 2022 Provincial Budget, said on Tuesday that since tabling the BC Urban Mayors’ Caucus 2020 Blueprint for British Columbia’s Urban Future as a collaborative response to the urgent issues cities face today, BCUMC has focused on partnership commitments to address four pillars: Mental Health, Substance Use and Treatment; Affordable Housing; Public Transit; and a New Fiscal Framework.
“We are pleased to see the Province invest $164 million in complex care housing and supports, with the promise of 20 new sites across British Columbia,” said Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran, Co-Chair of BCUMC. “This funding signals the Province’s commitment to supporting our most vulnerable. We look forward to hearing more details emerge about where those sites will be, how much will go towards each site and most importantly how quickly those sites will be operational. We know the need is great across our communities and the dollars committed today is another step forward.”
The pandemic has exacerbated the issues of homelessness in communities across B.C. In addition to the complex care funding, the Province’s commitment to focus on the root causes of homelessness by investing more than $633 million through a cross-government approach is critical towards providing services and supports for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
“Four of the top five fastest growing Canadian metropolitan municipalities are in B.C and this accelerated growth is accompanied by a housing affordability and supply crisis,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, Co-Chair of the BCUMC. “The Province’s budget made clear commitments to further build and incentivize affordable housing including through the Building BC’s Community Housing Fund.”
Affordable, reliable and accessible public transit is critical to the economic social and environmental future of our cities.
“We know that housing and transit are key for economic recovery and affordability for our residents. We are pleased to see the provincial budget includes further investments in the Transportation Investment Plan. These critical investments in sustainable transportation services are the backbone to business and workforce revitalization and play a vital role in our communities’ ability to meet our aggressive climate change and adaptation targets,” said Helps and Basran.
Over the three years of the fiscal plan, the $8 billion in transportation capital investments will maintain the flow of people and goods to support the BC economy. These capital projects include constructing the Broadway Subway Sky Train Line and continuing with the business plan of the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain. BC Transit will see a $13.9 million increase in their operating budget that will ensure the continued commitment to free transit ridership for youth and service expansion.
The BC Urban Mayors’ Caucus (BCUMC) is a non-partisan group of mayors from Abbotsford, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Prince George, Richmond, Saanich, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria.
