The Province continues to expand the scope of application of the Housing Supply Act by assigning housing targets to additional municipalities while also escalating compliance efforts by issuing directives to those municipalities deemed by the Province to be making insufficient progress.
Expanded Application of the Housing Supply Act
The Province has announced that a fourth group of ten municipalities will soon be receiving housing targets: Burnaby, Coquitlam, Courtenay, Township of Langley, Langford, Penticton, Pitt Meadows, Richmond, Squamish and Vernon. When the Housing Supply Act was originally introduced, the Province indicated that it would be applied to set housing targets in municipalities with the greatest need and highest projected growth. The current Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs service plan includes a cumulative target of 56-59 specified municipalities assigned housing targets by 2027/28, which represents a significant expansion in scope of the initiative.
Advisor Reports and Provincial Response
In addition to enabling the setting of targets, the Housing Supply Act and Housing Supply Regulation establish a framework for compliance via the appointment of advisors, issuance of directives, and ultimately the making of Orders in Council to enact or amend bylaws or issue or refuse permits. In January, Minister Kahlon announced that he would be appointing advisors for West Vancouver and Oak Bay to undertake a review of council decision-making, staff processes, and housing-related bylaws.
On May 22, the Province released the advisors’ reports, which make both general recommendations on planning processes and policy, and more site-specific recommendations on land use planning within the two municipalities. As part of their analysis, advisors examined development approvals, processing timelines, the regulatory environment and development finance policies. In addition to recommended changes, the reports point towards positives for the two municipalities, including professional and experienced staff and fees that are viewed as technically sound or as a cost of doing business. In the case of Oak Bay, the Advisor also specifically notes that while there is room for improvement, the municipality is making reasonable efforts to meet housing targets.
The Housing Supply Act provides that the Minister may issue directives requiring municipalities to enact or amend bylaws that the Minister considers contrary to the public interest, or to issue or refuse to issue a permit. The Minister chose to exercise this discretionary power to issue directives to both West Vancouver and Oak Bay, addressing specific items raised in their Advisor reports. In addition to issuing directives, the Minister in his letters to the two municipalities indicates that he is requiring progress reporting on all Advisor recommendations, with enhanced reporting on specific items.
Analysis
When the Housing Supply Act was originally introduced in 2022, UBCM raised a number of concerns, pointing towards the risk of unintended consequences, factors outside of local government control, and implications for local democracy and decision making. Now as the Province expands the scope of application of the legislation, these concerns remain and in some cases are heightened, particularly in light of the current state of economic uncertainty and what that means for critical factors outside of local government control: interest rates, labour and material costs and other factors that underlie development viability.
Furthermore, the recent suite of housing legislation places greater financial pressure on local governments due to the need to scale up services. UBCM has asked the province to provide long-term, stable and predictable infrastructure funding to address these challenges, to support the development of complete, resilient communities. Finally, UBCM will also continue to advocate for the Province to invest in its own areas of responsibility where there are already service deficits that will be further affected by housing-related population growth, including health care and education.
If you have any questions or comments on the roll-out of the Housing Supply Act that you wish to convey to UBCM, please contact Josh van Loon, Senior Policy Analyst.