The affordable housing challenge has become extreme in many communities in recent years and has key implications for smart growth, including for the economic development, transportation, environmental quality, and housing sectors. The evidence about the affordability of housing points to the need for new approaches to creating housing if communities in British Columbia want to continue improving their quality of life. The range of approaches available to address affordable housing concerns, termed the “continuum of affordable housing,” as currently used in British Columbia, and in Canada, is not adequate for meeting the challenge of providing a range of ownership and rental housing in each community.

The purpose of this report is to review the range of affordable housing approaches used by local governments in select jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S. and to provide some preliminary comments about the effectiveness of these tools. This review will provide the backdrop for Smart Growth B.C. to work with other organizations, the development sector, and local governments to develop an affordable housing strategy. This report suggests the need for more robust affordable housing initiatives that reflect the earnings from approaches undertaken in the U.S. since the 1980s.