The Liberal government was pressed to take action on housing affordability Wednesday in the legislative assembly.

“Many Yukoners have seen their dream of home ownership disappear over these last four years,” Geraldine Van Bibber, a Yukon Party MLA, said during question period.

Van Bibber noted that the average price for a single-detached home was $546,800 this past summer, according to the Yukon Bureau of Statistics.

Ranj Pillai, the minister of Economic Development, told the house that investment in lot development will help boost housing supply.

About 270 lots will become available this year, which will help lower prices, he said.

In an interview with reporters following question period, Pillai said there isn’t a singular solution to the problem.

“It’s going to be a multitude of things, you’re going to have to have lots of supply out and we really need to continue to support First Nation development,” Pillai said.

First Nations are able to register lots on settlement land and lease them, which lowers upfront costs, Pillai explained.

“There’s some real tools in the toolbox that we have in the Yukon,” Pillai said.

Providing a mixed supply of housing options is also pivotal to managing housing prices. 

“We’re going to have to look at different types of units in that continuum,” Pillai said.

“That could be strata title, condominiums, townhouses – where people have an ability to get into the market, build some equity and then move to something else.”

Pillai said he attended the Yukon Contractors Association’s annual meeting on Wednesday. 

“Part of our plan is to be working with the private sector….We’ve been pushing to ensure we have private developers,” Pillai said.

Selling large, surveyed lots to private corporations helps mitigate the risk for the Yukon government, Pillai explained.

“So, now we’re in a position where we’re trying to understand: how do we keep ahead on our lots, how do we work with First Nation governments, and how do we take a holistic approach to this?” Pillai said.

“If you look at it in one segment of a silo, you’re going to get in trouble like we’ve seen over the last couple of years.”

In an interview with reporters, Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon called real estate prices in the territory a “real problem,” and pushed for more affordable land availability.

“We’ve seen recently the average price of a house in the territory escalating rapidly; it’s becoming very difficult for people,” Dixon said.

He said housing prices boil down to an issue of supply and demand. He called on the government to work with the City of Whitehorse on making more land available.

“The supply is low because there aren’t lots available,” Dixon said.

“When they do come out, they fly off the shelves in a matter of seconds and you have to win a lottery, essentially, to get a lot in town.”

Dixon said he wants to see plans for land development beyond Whistle Bend.

“We don’t see any planning down the road for what’s next after that, so we need to start to see planning done … to identify new areas where we can get some residential land out.”

Kate White, the leader of the NDP, said housing affordability has been an issue for as long as she’s been in office – nearly a decade.

“We have seen, definitely, movement and growth underneath the current government,” White said.

The Yukon’s steady population growth presents a challenge for ensuring affordability, White said.

A parcel of land is still not affordable for many families on top of the cost of building a house, she added. (Whistle Bend lots ranged from $100,000 to $200,000 apiece last January.)

White agreed with Pillai that there is an opportunity to utilize First Nations land development as a solution.

“I think this is a problem that covers multiple facets, and unfortunately, this is not a new topic for Yukoners.”