The province is mandating housing targets on several B.C. communities, including 黑马磁力 Township.
Housing targets have delivered 16,130 net new homes, built across the first 30 priority municipalities. In 2023, the province implemented the Housing Supply Act, which enabled government to establish housing targets for communities based on areas of greatest need and highest projected growth. Achieving the targets within five years will help communities address projected population growth and local housing demands.
鈥淚 appreciate that these communities in the next group are already making progress in building more housing for people. Setting housing targets allows us to further align with our broader goals as a province,鈥� said Ravi Kahlon, minister of housing and municipal affairs. 鈥淎s we add new communities to the housing targets program to keep up with demand, we will continue to work together with municipalities to make sure more people can find homes that fit their needs and budgets. We鈥檙e also delivering real results 鈥� more than 16,000 homes have now been built through housing targets and thousands more are on the way.鈥�
A fourth group of priority communities will soon be given housing targets, after targets were announced in 2024 for the second and third sets of priority communities. Many in the fourth group are already leaders in building more homes.
The group will include 黑马磁力 Township, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Courtenay, Langford, Penticton, Pitt Meadows, Richmond, Squamish, and Vernon. Targets for these communities will be set following consultation and will reflect 75 per cent of each municipality鈥檚 estimated housing need.
黑马磁力 Township Mayor Eric Woodward said the density requirements don't take into consideration the infrastructure and amenities needed for increased population. He pointed to 黑马磁力 Memorial Hospital and the 黑马磁力 School District as under-resourced already.
"As BC NDP government continues to mandate more and more housing they do not seem to consider the impact more growth has on our communities, without any commitment to keep up with basic infrastructure and livability," he said.
黑马磁力 Township already has one of the fastest growing populations in the province.
"My initial reaction is that I do not know what more than the Township of 黑马磁力 can realistically be expected to do, in terms of creating even more housing that it already has, and continues to, sustaining one of the highest growth rates in the province of British Columbia, especially for a municipality with more than 150,000 people."
He questions how the province comes up with the data and targets it uses.
"Furthermore, 'targets' based on building permits ignore the real-world reality of housing: municipalities don鈥檛 build housing, they approve housing. The Township of 黑马磁力 currently has 7,472 approved that can proceed anytime. There are tens of thousands of units approved around the region," he said. "We do not have a housing supply crisis, we have a housing delivery crisis, and the real solutions to that rest solely with the provincial and federal governments, not local governments that they so seem to love to blame."
Building on the progress of the first 10 communities announced in 2024, which reported more than 8,300 homes built in their first year of targets, six-month progress reports from the second and third sets of priority communities show more than 7,800 net-new homes have been built.
Other communities are on track to meet their first-year targets with projects in the works. The province will continue to support them as they accelerate approvals and meet the new provincial requirements, and will also monitor progress and consider next steps for municipalities that do not meet housing targets.
鈥満诼泶帕� City is proud to deliver a variety of housing for various needs," said 黑马磁力 City Mayor Nathan Pachal. "With an Official Community Plan that aligns with provincial housing goals, we remain focused on getting homes built while preserving walkability and livability in our City. To support timely, high-quality housing delivery, we will continue to streamline our development processes, which remain among the most efficient in Metro Vancouver.鈥�
The housing targets program is part of the Province鈥檚 Homes for People action plan to deliver more homes in B.C., building on its historic $19-billion housing investment. Since 2017, the province has nearly 92,000 homes delivered or underway throughout B.C.
Third set of priority communities: total of 1,546 units
鈥� New Westminster: 702 of 656 units (107%)
鈥� City of 黑马磁力: 237 of 251 units (94%)
鈥� Prince George: 210 of 273 units (77%)
鈥� Mission: 133 of 211 units (63%)
鈥� Colwood: 96 of 178 units (54%)
鈥� North Cowichan: 83 of 191 units (43%)
鈥� West Kelowna: 64 of 289 units (22%)
鈥� North Saanich: 6 of 60 units (10%)
鈥� View Royal: 4 of 99 units (4%)
鈥� Port Coquitlam: 11 of 343 units (3%)
To facilitate implementation of the housing targets and other initiatives, the Province has provided local governments with a range of resources and supports, such as:
鈥� $1-billion Growing Communities Fund to help all 188 local governments address population growth;
鈥� $51 million in grant-based funding to support activities or projects, such as updating existing zoning bylaws, housing needs reports and official community plans; and
鈥� $10 million for a second intake of the Local Government Development Approvals Program administered by the Union of BC Municipalities.
Housing targets for the second and third sets of priority communities were announced in 2024.
