Public Deeds
Studying Government Land Data Access in Canada
The goal of this research is to investigate the qualitative and quantitative impact of privatisation of land data in the light of the housing crisis in Canada and the value of public land in the acquisition and development of housing.
Is it beneficial to privatize land assessment?
Access to public land data, including parcel boundaries, geographies and sale information, varies dramatically between provinces. In British Columbia, annual assessments are published for all property in the province, free online. In contrast, Ontario’s land data (including publicly owned land) is privatised. MPAC, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, is responsible for property assessments within Ontario, and Teranet is responsible for maintaining the electronic land registry system in partnership with the province.
Project Lead(s):
Home Organization:
University of British Columbia
Other Participants:
Community Partner:
Canadian Centre for Housing Rights
Funding Stream:
Community-Focused Project
Project Status:
Ongoing
Methodology
For qualitative investigation, we will conduct 20 semi-structured interviews with municipal/regional planners, researchers, government ministry staff, BC Assessment and Teranet/MPAC employees as available to gather a wide variety of perspectives on land assessment in Canada.
Quantitatively, we will conduct budget reviews and investigate corporate filings and government contracts to determine the nature of the financial and business relationships between land assessment authorities and government bodies.
These methods aim to estimate the cost of privatized land assessment versus the collective benefit.
Goals
The goal of this research is to investigate the qualitative and quantitative impact of privatisation of land data in the light of the housing crisis in Canada and the value of public land in the acquisition and development of housing.
Research Outputs
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