COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEMO: HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT

HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this memo is to provide Council with some additional background information on the Town’s Housing Needs Assessment Report prepared by Urban Matters.

BACKGROUND

The Provincial Legislative requirements took effect April 16, 2019, and required local governments to collect data, analyze trends and present reports that describe current and anticipated housing needs in B.C. communities. Municipalities in B.C. were required to complete housing needs reports by April 2022, and every five years thereafter.

Following the Provincial direction, the Town of View Royal engaged Urban Matters in September 2019 to prepare a Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) Report in accordance with Housing Gaps and Needs Study Terms of Reference (endorsed by Council May 21, 2019) and the legislative requirements. The project took approximately 12 months to complete. As per the Province’s requirements, the available data to analyze gaps and trends included the following:

• 2006, 2011 and 2016 Census Data
• CRD Homeless Counts
• BC Stats
• Data collected from BC Housing, Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, BC Assessment, and the Town.

The 2021 census data was released to the public on October 22, 2022, after the provincial deadline to complete an HNA. If the Town waited for the 2021 census data to be published, then the municipality would not meet the legislative deadline to complete the HNA. Municipalities were required to rely on the 2016 census data to complete the housing needs report.

COMMENTS

The Town’s HNA was prepared by a qualified professional, utilizing available data at the time as required by the Province, and includes both quantitative and qualitative research. As per the 2022 – 2026 Financial Plan, the work on an update to the HNA and housing needs report will begin at the end of 2024 for completion in 2025, in accordance with the legislative requirements. A copy of the project summary is attached to this report.

Municipalities generally carry out Official Community Plan (OCP) reviews every five to ten years, and sometimes longer, due to significant staff time and financial resources required to conduct these reviews. The Province requires that municipalities consider most recently collected information and housing needs report when amending OCPs. The Town’s OCP update project began in 2020, which was shortly after the completion of the Town’s first HNA. The draft OCP refers to the dwelling unit projections in the HNA, and the draft Plan will also be updated with the most recent 2021 Census Data.

In addition to the OCP, the HNA report, which includes five-year projections, is a document that staff and Council can refer to when considering proposed housing developments to ensure that they further advance housing policy and address housing needs of the community. Conducting a HNA every five years provides the Town with a comprehensive overview of how the municipality is responding to the community’s housing needs. For the next reporting cycle, the Town can reflect on the lessons learned from the first assessment and build on this work through quantitative and qualitative research.

CONCLUSION

To ensure that Council has all the information needed to make an informed decision on whether to advance work on the HNA a year earlier as this will have implications on Development Services work plan for 2023, it is recommended that Council direct staff to reach out to Urban Matters, share the documentation provided by the Mayor for review and response, confirm the number of dwelling units approved through building permit between 2016 – 2021, and bring forward a staff report to a future Committee of the Whole meeting with the additional information for Council’s consideration.

ATTACHMENT:

• Housing Needs Assessment Project Summary as per the 2022 – 2026 Financial Plan.