The province is praising Victoria and Port Moody for showing significant progress in meeting housing targets while other municipalities are still behind.
Minister of Housing, Ravi Kahlon posted a list on social media Wednesday showcasing a progress report reflecting the first 10 priority communities selected for housing targets by the province.
On top, Victoria is way ahead of its target with 114 per cent of 659 units, and Port Moody at 90 per cent of 231 units. While the bottom three include Delta, West Vancouver, and Oak Bay which are sitting at 22 per cent of 514 units, 18 per cent of 220 units and 12.5 per cent of 56 units, respectively.
Mayor of Victoria, Marianne Alto tells CityNews she’s excited to see her city ahead of its timeline. She says Victoria is seeing success because it’s thinking outside the box.
“We’re looking at every conceivable way to make the process of building homes easier, faster, simpler,” she said. “Something that tries to balance the need of people who need homes, obviously, in a very diverse way, across the continuum of affordability, with the challenges facing the development industry.”
Alto says looking at ways to fit her city’s diverse and increasing population in different types of housing within its geography has is a significant part of Victoria’s planning process.
“We’re only 19 and a half kilometres square, so the geography of our city is very limited, which is forcing us to be adaptable and try and look at what type of development fits,” she said.
Kahlon says, most communities are making good progress so far, but “a few need further action.”
The province says Delta, West Vancouver and Oak Bay need to expedite their processes.
“Compliance measures may be taken if satisfactory progress is not made by the time annual progress reports are made, to ensure that municipalities are taking action to build homes for people as quickly as possible,” it said. “Municipalities are also encouraged to explore and strengthen partnerships with First Nations communities to support and deliver housing projects on First Nations lands.”
Alto says although she can’t comment on what other jurisdictions are doing, for Victoria what’s working is looking at zoning changes.
“Can we look at how we pre-zone or designate different areas?” she said. “We’re really trying to look at the process, policy, efficiency, speed, and balance that with what we know are the needs of our current residents, and also respecting the history of the city as well,” she said.
Alto says the city is trying to make it easier to move to Victoria and to “become Victorians.”
The province established housing targets in September 2023 for the first 10 priority communities based on 75% of each municipality’s estimated housing needs within five years.
The target orders for each municipality between 2023-26:
- Abbotsford – 7,240 housing units
- Delta – 3,607 housing units
- Kamloops – 4,236 housing units
- North Vancouver – 2,838 housing units
- Oak Bay – 664 housing units
- Port Moody – 1,694 housing units
- Saanich – 4,610 housing units
- Vancouver – 28,900 housing units
- Victoria – 4,902 housing units
- West Vancouver – 1,432 housing units
On Wednesday the province also released the next 10 community targets for the next five years.
The following are the newly established five-year targets:
- Central Saanich – 588 units
- Chilliwack – 4,594 units
- City of North Vancouver – 3,320 units
- Esquimalt – 754 units
- Kelowna – 8,774 units
- Maple Ridge – 3,954 units
- Nanaimo – 4,703 units
- Sidney – 468 units
- Surrey – 27,256 units
- White Rock – 1,067 units
-With files from Robyn Crawford.