Bill 28, the Miscellaneous Statutes (Housing Priority Initiatives) Amendment Act, 2016, is a British Columbian law that came into force on August 2, 2016.
The law was introduced after calls urging the British Columbia provincial government to intervene in the housing market and curb foreign investment that was seen as a major contributor to the rapid rise in home prices.
[2] Vancouver locals had been complaining for a long time about foreign citizens purchasing homes and displacing residents who find housing has become unaffordable and may end up being homeless.
[9] According to The Province, two Victoria city councillors, Ben Isitt and Jeremy Loveday, wanted the foreign buyers tax also applied in the capital region.
The province saw the tax as an important step in controlling the housing crisis in British Columbia, that has reported sky high rents and an extremely low vacancy rate.
Government figures showed that foreign citizens, mainly Chinese, have purchased $1 billion worth of real estate in British Columbia during a five-week period in 2016.
Foreign buyers were blamed by Tom Davidoff of the University of British Columbia (UBC) for large increases in real estate prices experienced in Vancouver.
On September 14, 2016, The Province reported that the housing affordability plan would launch with almost half a billion dollars from windfall real estate taxes.
[17] On September 16, 2016, Michael de Jong, Minister of Finance for British Columbia, announced that the government would spend $500 million on housing affordability.