The federal government has mended fences with the City of Burnaby after a brief public spat and announced the city will get $43.4 million as part of the Housing Accelerator Fund.
The money will "fast track" 1,290 housing units over the next three years and "spur the construction" of more than 11,340 homes in the next 10 years, according to a press release.
The funds will funnel into an action plan created by the city that commits to address increasing demand for housing.
The funding will be geared towards technology and ensuring "that those who want to build the right types of homes in our city can get it done quickly and efficiently," according to Mayor Mike Hurley at a press conference Tuesday.
The plan includes zoning reforms to "encourage gentle density and missing-middle housing forms," improvements to the development approvals process and support for the Burnaby Housing Authority in delivery of new non-market housing, according to the release.
The plan will make use of new digital technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence and zoning compliance software.
Burnaby North-Seymour MP Terry Beech said his government is committed to investing in housing but added the federal government can't solve the housing crisis by itself.
"We need every level of government to be pulling in the same direction in order to get the number of houses that we need to get built, built," Beech said Tuesday.
"We need to build millions of units over the next 10 years. That's going to take trillions of dollars in capital," he said.
"Even after the program expires, we expect over a quarter million units to be developed over the next decade ... incrementally because of this program," Beech said.
Hurley said Burnaby's "innovative" housing policies are driving the creation of thousands of local, affordable homes, including more than 1,200 units currently under construction.
Wendy Tse, Burnaby's director of community planning, told the Burnaby NOW the funding will help streamline development approvals processes and allow for technology upgrades that would not have otherwise been possible.
She said Burnaby is looking to Kelowna as an example on the digital front, as Kelowna has a type of AI chatbot for building permit approvals.
"There are ways that software through AI technology can sort of, basically, understand our zoning bylaw, look at plans and then determine compliance," she said.
Hurley told the NOW the money will fund about 20 staff positions over the next four years.
'Hostages' no more: feds flip-flop
The funding announcement comes almost two months after the federal government flip-flopped on giving the funds to Burnaby and Surrey due to a Metro Vancouver board of directors decision to increase certain charges levied on developers.
Federal housing minister Sean Fraser pulled the plug over concerns about those charges.
Hurley said the feds were "holding municipalities hostage" in an interview with the NOW in November.
Beech said that back in September, the federal government was repeatedly hearing more rental housing needed to be built.
"We were worried that (the developer charges) might offset the business case for getting more housing built," Beech said.
But he said "a couple things happened" since the initial plan announcement in Ottawa in September and the announcement Tuesday.
First, he said there was "a dialogue" between Metro Vancouver and Housing Minister Fraser.
Second was the "significant" provincial announcements that Beech said would help cities offer more housing.
"The Housing Accelerator Fund was always built to reward good behaviour. And the reasons that Surrey and Burnaby were No. 1 and No. 2 on the list for announcements in British Columbia, it was because they did some of our best (building) in the province."
Beech said Metro Vancouver has been a "strong partner" to the federal government but did not respond to whether the federal government is still concerned about Metro Vancouver's financials or the way it uses developer charges.
Hurley thanked Housing Minister Fraser, who wasn't at the press conference, and said, "He did try to get this over the line too."
