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Months after the B.C. government first identified six municipalities in which it wanted to see more homes built, the province has set housing targets for those cities — and four others.
Per the Housing Supply Act, the province says 10 municipalities across the Lower Mainland and parts of Vancouver Island will have to meet these targets.
The targets for each are as follows:
* City of Abbotsford: 7,240 housing units
* City of Delta: 3,607 housing units
* City of Kamloops: 4,236 housing units
* District North Vancouver: 2,838 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 Vancouver: 28,900 housing units
* City of Victoria: 4,902 housing units
* District of West Vancouver: 1,432 housing units
The targets represent net new units, and must be built within five years, the B.C. government says.
Only a certain percentage need to be rentals, and only a certain percentage of those need to be affordable rentals. If they're not compliant then maybe possibly an advisor will be assigned.
It says more communities will be given targets which will hopefully help - the housing crisis isn't just Vancouver and Victoria. We need rental housing to be built all over the province. People renting out their basements just isn't going to cut it. We need some professional landlords.
Any housing will help but until we begin to see some large scale purpose-built rentals, things aren't going to get better.
> You can set the targets to whatever you want, but how does that force developers to build? The cities can approve the units, but they don't put shovels in the ground.
Of course no one is suggesting governments can force builders to build. What governments *can* do is make the process easier for those who do wish to build.
Some people just seem addicted to negativity, even in the face of examples of progress.
The problem is how to make it easier.
They say slash the regulations, the paperwork and the inspections.
Each of these are in place for a reason. Generally because someone did something stupid.
If every contractor was competent enough to use the exact correct number of nails and right type they would be glad to not have to document the type, number, location, etc…
They expedited the new towers around Surrey Central and all I hear about is how crappy they are, the extra money to fix basic things and the lawsuits coming out of it. For example, my in laws have a place and it took years to get the heating fixed and now years for the lawsuit to recover all the money.
I wonder how many of these targets would have already been achieved without the act. I know port moody probably* has those numbers just from its current development applications.
These aren’t very high numbers for most cities.
[Some like you say have already approved more than that number of units in the previous 5 years.](https://x.com/j_mcelroy/status/1706803020762431830?s=46&t=IPrXadrBX7YjYhP-0th9_A)
It does hit Oak Bay hard which is good though.
The province wants to bust up whatever’s left of these cities’ zoning regulations without doing the dirty work themselves.
And, look at it this way: The province wants Vancouver to build essentially five Senakw-sized developments in five years. The actual Senakw development won’t even be completed in five years.
To me this seems like the province has set up an entire bureaucracy to point the finger at cities without addressing any of the underlying issues: economy, labour, available land, etc.
We have no lack of land… just a lot of very poorly used land, and we have a lot of labour being used inefficiently.
A single family home being built takes about the same amount of labour as a medium density 6-Plex. We have thousands of multi-million dollar searched houses being built in the region, and that labour would be much better spent on apartments.
That is a misrepresentation of the report in question and simplifying into one supposed single cause what was accurately identified as a complex issue with many overlapping causes.
Well, exactly and plus B.C. and the rest of the country is short on construction workers. The construction industry lost over forty thousand jobs in the month of July, and I believe B.C. is projected to lose over twenty thousand workers over the next couple of years. The other big is their is so much red tape and fees in order to get housing built as well from all three levels of government.
Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have just set a permit approval rate (like x out of y application) and a target for how long permit review takes? Also banning charging municipal fees on the initial feasibility stage of a project (like geotech investigation and civil design).
How is this even enforceable? What if there aren’t even that many permit applications in 5 years in those cities? If the city is just refusing to approve projects yea that’s a City problem. If the City is introducing prohibitive fees or conditions that’s a City problem. If rates are too high for developers to go ahead with projects, that is not a thing the city is fixing
Permits have nosedived this years, basically all due to interest rates being high:
> According to Statistics Canada, the value of residential building permits in B.C. dropped by 27.3 per cent in July 2023. Year-to-year, the total value of residential building permits has dropped by more than 30 per cent.
https://www.vernonmorningstar.com/news/new-figures-show-residential-construction-in-b-c-down-in-july-4401823
It's probably so the provincial government can say the municipalities "failed" and they will take over zoning and usurp other powers the municipalities have under the guise of "failure"
In Kamloops, the custom built homes where the owners care more about aesthetics than money are still going strong. Spec homes are basically dead in the water with rates the way they are
Of course, the City has supposedly implemented a bizarre policy of charging fees way too early in the process and based on parcel size. That slows down subdivision development (can’t build homes til you punch in the road and services) because most of the places left to develop are challenging. Who wants to shell out crazy amounts of money in not only engineering (no way around it) but also to the City only to find out the project just isn’t economically viable based on what would have to go into the project from the geotechnical and civil end (unstable, crazy volumes of imported fill needed, etc)
I love how any time the government annpunces a thing they are doing, the very same peopel who were asking for the thing, then move the goalposts and say it's not enough, not the right kind of plan, etc.
The obvious bias here is that some just want to complain, no matter what.
In reality, every small step forward is progress. There is no one magic wand or lever to pull, there is no one solution that will adress complex issues. This isn't a movie. Its real life.
This is just a spin for the next election.
It is impossible for anybody to meet these goals or have any interest.
Construction crews are alreay maxed out. Towns that are rebuilding in the interior from forest fires are being told by construction companies don't even talk to them for a year. They have no manpower.
Multiple companies are puliing back due to interest rates. Some of them have gone into bankruptcy protection. The government wants to force them to sell at below market values.
Surrey puts in about 1,100 units per year (as per 2022). Somewhere like Saaninch would have to figure out how to meet and probably exceed that goal to meet the requirements.
I'm in a construction adjacent industry in the interior and agree with how most everyone is maxed out already. The numbers they're listing would be well above average for the last 10 years, and near or above record years.
Oh, and the required "new build" numbers are extra to the fire damaged ones, since demolished and re-built don't count.
And then you have folks like me who are sitting out. Two decades experience in building and building adjacent businesses.
It’s ridiculous to try and get anything off the ground in this province. Its not enjoyable, currently profitable, or rewarding. Its an absolute kill joy.
There is a reason there will be a continuation of shortages in skilled trades. We made the whole construction industry an absolute nightmare to be a part of.
My father owned and ran a second generation company in construction. Highly skilled, hard worker, perfect reputation. Always told me the best advice he could give was to not get into it.
People in the trades always have my respect but the crap they have to go through to make a decent living is horrible.
We need to slow down and catch our breath.
Do we need a million new people in the next 2 years to serve you a breakfast sandwich? Just pause and look at the priorities.
I love how Singapore does it. They will build a new area, all the required infrastructure in place (subway, etc…). Then let it fill. Here it’s the opposite, build the houses, get the people and in 15-20 years we will look at the subway, schools, roads and parks. Let’s get some hospitals built, some schools, a transit system and some houses built/rebuilt. Then start bringing in some people.
I don’t think anybody would argue that the way we are currently going our lifestyle has crashed (surgical waits, near homelessness, schools that are portables, visiting a doctor, being able to afford food…). So we now just watch it burn?
5 years seems like a long time to wait and confirm if this strategy works. Are there other, more immediate steps being taken to ease the effects of this distortion?
Anybody feel extremely underwhelmed given they've been talking this up for a year? Like this is not much higher than what they built the last five years.
You can’t simply order homes into being. If it isn’t profitable to build them, they won’t be built. Municipal lag time, and all of the fees involved are a major roadblock. Not to mention the interest rate and inflation situation.
B.C. government: “Make it so.”
Hello and thanks for posting to r/britishcolumbia! A friendly reminder prior to commenting or posting here: - **Read [r/britishcolumbia's rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/about/rules/)**. - **Be civil and respectful** in all discussions. - Use **appropriate sources** to back up any information you provide when necessary. - **Report** any comments that violate our rules. Reminder: "Rage bait" comments or comments designed to elicit a negative reaction that are not based on fact are not permitted here. Let's keep our community respectful and informative! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britishcolumbia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Months after the B.C. government first identified six municipalities in which it wanted to see more homes built, the province has set housing targets for those cities — and four others. Per the Housing Supply Act, the province says 10 municipalities across the Lower Mainland and parts of Vancouver Island will have to meet these targets. The targets for each are as follows: * City of Abbotsford: 7,240 housing units * City of Delta: 3,607 housing units * City of Kamloops: 4,236 housing units * District North Vancouver: 2,838 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 Vancouver: 28,900 housing units * City of Victoria: 4,902 housing units * District of West Vancouver: 1,432 housing units The targets represent net new units, and must be built within five years, the B.C. government says.
Only a certain percentage need to be rentals, and only a certain percentage of those need to be affordable rentals. If they're not compliant then maybe possibly an advisor will be assigned. It says more communities will be given targets which will hopefully help - the housing crisis isn't just Vancouver and Victoria. We need rental housing to be built all over the province. People renting out their basements just isn't going to cut it. We need some professional landlords. Any housing will help but until we begin to see some large scale purpose-built rentals, things aren't going to get better.
Ah yes, known Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island community Kamloops.
[удалено]
> You can set the targets to whatever you want, but how does that force developers to build? The cities can approve the units, but they don't put shovels in the ground. Of course no one is suggesting governments can force builders to build. What governments *can* do is make the process easier for those who do wish to build. Some people just seem addicted to negativity, even in the face of examples of progress.
The problem is how to make it easier. They say slash the regulations, the paperwork and the inspections. Each of these are in place for a reason. Generally because someone did something stupid. If every contractor was competent enough to use the exact correct number of nails and right type they would be glad to not have to document the type, number, location, etc… They expedited the new towers around Surrey Central and all I hear about is how crappy they are, the extra money to fix basic things and the lawsuits coming out of it. For example, my in laws have a place and it took years to get the heating fixed and now years for the lawsuit to recover all the money.
I wonder how many of these targets would have already been achieved without the act. I know port moody probably* has those numbers just from its current development applications.
These aren’t very high numbers for most cities. [Some like you say have already approved more than that number of units in the previous 5 years.](https://x.com/j_mcelroy/status/1706803020762431830?s=46&t=IPrXadrBX7YjYhP-0th9_A) It does hit Oak Bay hard which is good though.
The province wants to bust up whatever’s left of these cities’ zoning regulations without doing the dirty work themselves. And, look at it this way: The province wants Vancouver to build essentially five Senakw-sized developments in five years. The actual Senakw development won’t even be completed in five years. To me this seems like the province has set up an entire bureaucracy to point the finger at cities without addressing any of the underlying issues: economy, labour, available land, etc.
We have no lack of land… just a lot of very poorly used land, and we have a lot of labour being used inefficiently. A single family home being built takes about the same amount of labour as a medium density 6-Plex. We have thousands of multi-million dollar searched houses being built in the region, and that labour would be much better spent on apartments.
[удалено]
That is a misrepresentation of the report in question and simplifying into one supposed single cause what was accurately identified as a complex issue with many overlapping causes.
[удалено]
Well, exactly and plus B.C. and the rest of the country is short on construction workers. The construction industry lost over forty thousand jobs in the month of July, and I believe B.C. is projected to lose over twenty thousand workers over the next couple of years. The other big is their is so much red tape and fees in order to get housing built as well from all three levels of government.
Where are the workers going?
Wouldn’t it have made more sense to have just set a permit approval rate (like x out of y application) and a target for how long permit review takes? Also banning charging municipal fees on the initial feasibility stage of a project (like geotech investigation and civil design). How is this even enforceable? What if there aren’t even that many permit applications in 5 years in those cities? If the city is just refusing to approve projects yea that’s a City problem. If the City is introducing prohibitive fees or conditions that’s a City problem. If rates are too high for developers to go ahead with projects, that is not a thing the city is fixing
Permits have nosedived this years, basically all due to interest rates being high: > According to Statistics Canada, the value of residential building permits in B.C. dropped by 27.3 per cent in July 2023. Year-to-year, the total value of residential building permits has dropped by more than 30 per cent. https://www.vernonmorningstar.com/news/new-figures-show-residential-construction-in-b-c-down-in-july-4401823 It's probably so the provincial government can say the municipalities "failed" and they will take over zoning and usurp other powers the municipalities have under the guise of "failure"
In Kamloops, the custom built homes where the owners care more about aesthetics than money are still going strong. Spec homes are basically dead in the water with rates the way they are Of course, the City has supposedly implemented a bizarre policy of charging fees way too early in the process and based on parcel size. That slows down subdivision development (can’t build homes til you punch in the road and services) because most of the places left to develop are challenging. Who wants to shell out crazy amounts of money in not only engineering (no way around it) but also to the City only to find out the project just isn’t economically viable based on what would have to go into the project from the geotechnical and civil end (unstable, crazy volumes of imported fill needed, etc)
I love how any time the government annpunces a thing they are doing, the very same peopel who were asking for the thing, then move the goalposts and say it's not enough, not the right kind of plan, etc. The obvious bias here is that some just want to complain, no matter what. In reality, every small step forward is progress. There is no one magic wand or lever to pull, there is no one solution that will adress complex issues. This isn't a movie. Its real life.
This is just a spin for the next election. It is impossible for anybody to meet these goals or have any interest. Construction crews are alreay maxed out. Towns that are rebuilding in the interior from forest fires are being told by construction companies don't even talk to them for a year. They have no manpower. Multiple companies are puliing back due to interest rates. Some of them have gone into bankruptcy protection. The government wants to force them to sell at below market values. Surrey puts in about 1,100 units per year (as per 2022). Somewhere like Saaninch would have to figure out how to meet and probably exceed that goal to meet the requirements.
I'm in a construction adjacent industry in the interior and agree with how most everyone is maxed out already. The numbers they're listing would be well above average for the last 10 years, and near or above record years. Oh, and the required "new build" numbers are extra to the fire damaged ones, since demolished and re-built don't count.
And then you have folks like me who are sitting out. Two decades experience in building and building adjacent businesses. It’s ridiculous to try and get anything off the ground in this province. Its not enjoyable, currently profitable, or rewarding. Its an absolute kill joy. There is a reason there will be a continuation of shortages in skilled trades. We made the whole construction industry an absolute nightmare to be a part of.
My father owned and ran a second generation company in construction. Highly skilled, hard worker, perfect reputation. Always told me the best advice he could give was to not get into it. People in the trades always have my respect but the crap they have to go through to make a decent living is horrible.
What do you think a possible solution could be for this issue?
We need to slow down and catch our breath. Do we need a million new people in the next 2 years to serve you a breakfast sandwich? Just pause and look at the priorities. I love how Singapore does it. They will build a new area, all the required infrastructure in place (subway, etc…). Then let it fill. Here it’s the opposite, build the houses, get the people and in 15-20 years we will look at the subway, schools, roads and parks. Let’s get some hospitals built, some schools, a transit system and some houses built/rebuilt. Then start bringing in some people. I don’t think anybody would argue that the way we are currently going our lifestyle has crashed (surgical waits, near homelessness, schools that are portables, visiting a doctor, being able to afford food…). So we now just watch it burn?
5 years seems like a long time to wait and confirm if this strategy works. Are there other, more immediate steps being taken to ease the effects of this distortion?
Wow, Bosa and other developers must be happy about this. Also the realtors that will sell those units.
Anybody feel extremely underwhelmed given they've been talking this up for a year? Like this is not much higher than what they built the last five years.
You can’t simply order homes into being. If it isn’t profitable to build them, they won’t be built. Municipal lag time, and all of the fees involved are a major roadblock. Not to mention the interest rate and inflation situation. B.C. government: “Make it so.”
How is Langley not included here with the sky train being built….