BC's naughty list
Municipalities getting enforceable housing targets
Yesterday the BC government released its initial list of municipalities that will be getting enforceable housing targets. Press release.
Lower Mainland / Fraser Valley:
City of Vancouver
West Vancouver
District of North Vancouver
Delta
Port Moody
Abbotsford
Vancouver Island:
Victoria
Saanich
Oak Bay
Interior:
Kamloops
In the Lower Mainland, the city of Vancouver is particularly important because it’s geographically central with easy access to jobs, so more people want to live there and land values are high. In an unconstrained market, buildings would be tallest there, so that each household can economize on expensive land. When political opposition in the city of Vancouver restricts building heights, it’s like pushing down on a balloon - people get pushed out to Burnaby and Surrey, where there’s less opposition.
More
These 10 B.C. municipalities are now required to hit housing targets. Katie DeRosa in the Vancouver Sun.
B.C. setting housing targets for 10 municipalities in effort to build more homes, faster. Xiao Xu in the Globe and Mail.
Earlier posts: Setting enforceable housing targets for municipalities. Options for the BC government.
Interesting that Kamloops is on this list. I sat with a Kamloops Econ dev officer at an event and she told me that they can approve a permit in weeks, and they’re hungry for development there.