The two Island cities handed new housing targets by the province this week are taking the challenge in stride, but are warning senior levels of government that the push has to come with a boost in infrastructure support.
Both Langford and Courtenay said increased housing needs will require more schools, hospitals and transportation improvements.
The pair were among 10 new cities handed housing targets this week — Langford has been challenged to add 2,993 new units in the next five years, while Courtenay’s target is 1,334.
In a statement, the City of Langford said it will “require assistance from higher levels of government to secure funding for the critical infrastructure, such as health care, schools, transit service, and transportation network improvements, that are necessary to support this growth.”
Langford said it was committed to working with the province.
Courtenay is singing from the same songbook.
“We need funding from other levels of government to help with the new and upgraded infrastructure required for this mandated growth,” said Courtenay Mayor Bob Wells.
Langford, which is one of the busiest homebuilding municipalities on the Island, said it would have little trouble meeting the challenge.
Over the last five years, Langford has averaged 1,286 homes completed each year, according to numbers from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. It averaged 1,401 new home starts each year over the last five years.
Wells said Courtenay has averaged 422 new units each year since 2021, with 625 units completed last year.
“We championed the Speculation and Vacancy Tax to help address housing needs in our community,” said Wells. “The province has told us we’re doing a good job with our housing approvals, and is aware we’ve met all the land use standards they’ve enacted to date.”
He said he is “confident” Courtenay is on its way to meeting the target.
Courtenay has undertaken measures to stimulate development and speed up homebuilding in the area, including allowing staff to approve minor variances, reducing parking requirements for rental and non-market housing, waiving development cost charges for non-market housing and rezoning more than 60 per cent of properties in the city to allow small-scale, multi-unit housing.
The B.C. government made the housing targets announcement in May, but the targets were only set this week.
They are meant to reflect 75% of the municipalities’ estimated housing need, according to the province.
It’s the fourth group of cities to have targets set since the province announced the program in 2023.
The province also provided a set of guidelines for each municipality recommending the number of housing units by size, including how many should be rentals or owned and how many should be below-market rental units and rental units with on-site supports.
It reported that more than 16,000 new homes have been built in the first 30 communities given housing targets.
