The amount of new housing in the City of Duncan that has been completed, sunder construction or planned exceeds what is being mandated for the municipality by the province in ongoing efforts to deal with the ongoing housing crisis in B.C.
City planner Larissa Barry-Thibodeau presented Duncan’s Interim-Housing Needs Report 2024 at the council meeting on Nov. 18.
She said that, based on the current levels of completed new housing in the city, it’s anticipated that there will be 393 fully constructed new housing units completed no later than the end of 2025, while the province has anticipated the number of new housing units needed within the next five years in the city is 327.
“We have 209 units that have currently received occupancy permits and we have Evans Street [an assisted-living rental project for seniors at 257 Evans St.] that’s getting quite close and the White Road project [a supportive housing project at 260 White Rd.] should be completed soon, assuming things continue as planned,” Barry-Thibodeau said.
“Then we have another 309 dwelling units that we have received building-permit applications for and, once these are issued, then those will also be under construction as well. So we’re doing pretty well in terms of what the province’s calculations has told us we need.”
Barry-Thibodeau said there is the potential for an additional 579 housing units to be constructed in Duncan between 2027 and 2031, for a total housing-unit projection from 2021, when the last census was held, to 2031 of 1,280 units.
Under the province’s criteria, the anticipated number of new housing units needed in Duncan within the next 20 years is 920.
The province enacted amendments to the Local Government Act last year to address a number of issues and regulatory matters related to housing that are within the purview of local governments.
The overarching intent of the amendments is to produce more housing in British Columbia at an accelerated pace to improve the availability and affordability of housing.
Barry-Thibodeau said the province is also mandating municipalities to update their official community plans and zoning bylaws to address their housing needs over the next 20 years, if needed.
“Just based on a preliminary review, we don’t think we’ll have to do that because the number of housing units permitted within our zoning bylaw far exceeds [the province’s numbers],” she said.