On February 20, the British Columbia (BC) government will table its next provincial budget. With that in mind, it’s useful to reflect on the province’s homelessness crisis—along with the various public policy factors that have likely contributed to it.
Here are 10 things to know:
- Public operating spending by BC’s provincial government has seen a steady reduction over the past two decades. As a share of Gross Domestic Product, provincial public operating spending has gone from roughly 22% to roughly 18% during this time. The downward trend was especially sharp during the first mandate of the Gordon Campbell Liberal government (2001-2005); but the trend has yet to be reversed, even with the recent election of an NDP government. All of this is illustrated in the visual below.
