Thursday, September 28, 2023

At a glance (3 minute read)

  • BC's housing minister, Ravi Kahlon, has set targets for 10 municipalities to build 60,000 new housing units within five years to address housing needs.
  • The province will evaluate the municipalities' progress after six months and provide $10 million in funding to speed up approval processes and streamline permitting.
  • The targets include below-market rental units and represent a 38 per cent increase in housing construction compared to historic trends. 
  • The City of Vancouver must build 28,900 housing units, while other municipalities have specific targets as well.

Ten BC municipalities have five years to build 60,000 new housing units to comply with new targets released by Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon on September 26, 2023.

“We’re taking action and working with municipal partners to make sure more homes are built in communities with the greatest housing need,” Kahlon said.

The province plans to evaluate municipalities after six months to determine progress.

The targets include thousands of below-market rental units for the largest and fastest-growing communities. This means more residents will be able find a home in their community, according to Minister Kahlon.

Funding to help achieve targets

To support implementation, the province will continue to provide local governments with resources to speed up approval processes, including $10 million for:

  • continued implementation of the Development Approvals Process Review; and
  • the province’s work accelerating and streamlining provincial permitting across multiple ministries and developing a new digital permitting process.

This funding is in addition to the $1 billion Growing Communities Fund launched in February 2023 and the recently announced $51 million to support local governments in meeting new density initiatives.

The first 10 municipalities were selected for housing target assessment in May 2023. These housing targets are net new units to be completed within five years.

Municipalities in your Board area

With the Real Estate Board area four municipalities must meet targets:

  • City of Vancouver – 28,900 housing units
  • City of Delta – 3,607 housing units
  • District North Vancouver – 2,838 housing units
  • District of West Vancouver – 1,432 housing units

Elsewhere in the province

These municipalities must meet these targets:

  • City of Abbotsford – 7,240 housing units
  • City of Kamloops – 4,236 housing units
  • District of Oak Bay – 664 housing units
  • City of Port Moody – 1,694 housing units
  • District of Saanich – 4,610 housing units
  • City of Victoria – 4,902 housing units

The housing targets are an estimated 38 per cent increase in overall housing to be built in these communities over what was projected to have been created based on historic trends.

More information

Read this release on detailed housing target guidelines.

Review the Housing Target Orders for each municipality. In the search box enter Housing Targets.

Read the government news release about these housing targets.

If you have questions about housing targets, contact Harriet Permut, director of government relations at hpermut@rebgv.org.