Attachment B: Scenario B Details

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Population and Demographics

Information on population and demographic statistics paint the picture of how many residents live in the Town of View Royal, helping identify demographics that may have specific housing demands or for whom housing may need to be planned for in the future.

• The population in View Royal grew faster between 2006 and 2016 than in the CRD as a whole, indicating that increased growth and development will likely continue to impact development and planning considerations over the next five to ten years
• Generally, the age composition of the community is comparable to the CRD as whole, with a slightly aging demographic and an increasing median age. This points to a need for increased considerations around age-appropriate housing, planning for retaining and attracting younger demographics, and supporting aging-in-place options.
• About half of new households projected to be formed by 2040 will be non-family households, while about half will be family households. This is consistent with an aging population that may have more single-person households.

Economy and Income

Understanding economic and income measures allows us to understand what current residents of View Royal can afford in terms of housing, and how View Royal’s economy compares to the region.

• Median household income in View Royal has steadily increased between 2006 and 2016; although it is increasing more slowly than in the CRD as a whole, overall incomes remain higher in View Royal than in the CRD, and View Royal households generally earn more than counterparts in other central CRD municipalities.
• Ownership is the predominant form of tenure, and the wealthier a household is, the more likely it is to own; only households earning less than $20,000 annually are majority renters (60%). In the wealthiest income group, 92% are owners, and 8% of households are renters, indicating a small market for high-end rental dwellings.
• Economically, View Royal is slightly stronger than an already economically strong CRD, with lower unemployment rates and higher labour force participation.

Housing in View Royal

Understanding the Town of View Royal’s housing stock is fundamental to understanding current availability and housing needs in the community and identifying potential areas for change to accommodate growth.

• View Royal has 4,155 dwellings. Single family homes (40% of all dwellings), duplexes or homes with a secondary suite (20.8%) and semi-detached houses (4%) accounted for nearly two-thirds of View Royal’s homes in 2016, while units in small apartments (15%) and townhouses (18%) accounted for the remaining third, with units in larger apartments (2%) and other single family dwellings (less than 1%) making up the remaining small number of units.
• One-third of View Royal’s housing stock was built in 1980 or before (33%), about 37% were built between 1981 and 2000, and about 31% were built in 2001 or after. This does not account for new units built since 2016: 507 building permits were issued for dwelling units between 2017 and 2019, with demolitions netted out.
• Over half of all dwellings (52%) are 3 or more bedrooms; however, only just over a third (35%) of all households have 3 or more people. This could indicate that smaller households, particularly older households, may be ‘over-housed’ which can impact the ability to age in place for older seniors (aged 85+).
• Construction is spread relatively evenly over a range of ages, meaning there’s a diversity in the age of the housing stock.
• A healthy rental vacancy rate is often deemed to be 3-5%, and View Royal’s vacancy rate has remained below this since 2013; in 2019 the vacancy rate was 0.7%.
• View Royal saw a 43% increase in primary rental rates over the last 11 years, from an average monthly rent of $1,106 in 2008 to an average of $1,579 in 2019.
• In 2019, there are approximately 1,185 rental households with 374 (27%) of them being permitted Secondary Suites.
• 2019 saw the addition of 218 new purpose-built rental units to View Royal, considerably increasing the number of units tracked by CMHC from around 260 units, to 414 units in October 2019 (with 60 new units not captured by CMHC’s survey).¹
• With renter households growing by 40% between 2006 and 2016, this added much needed purpose-built rental stock to the market; however, a large proportion of renters are still renting in the secondary market (meaning private homes and secondary suites, not purpose-built rental), and vacancy rates remain very low in View Royal.

¹ CMHC’s count appears to only capture about 160 of the 218 units.