Surrey makes movement on 12,600 new homes in six months | Daily Hive

City of Surrey makes movement on over 12,600 new homes in six months

SkyTrain Expo Line near King George Station in Surrey City Centre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Over the past six months, the City of Surrey has made progress on 12,663 new homes in various ways.

According to the municipal government, this includes pushing 10,096 new units further into City’s review and approval stages — mainly from rezoning conditional approvals, as well as issued building permits and multiplex development permits.

Another 2,567 units were actual net new housing completions, which puts the municipal government in a good starting position to meet and achieve the provincial government’s legislated housing supply target orders for the jurisdiction.

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Over a five-year period between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2029, the legislation requires Surrey to push 27,256 net new homes to completion — not merely approvals. This includes interim annual cumulative targets of 4,233 net new units in Year 1 by June 2025, 8,872 net new units in Year 2 by June 2026, 14,120 net new units in Year 3 by June 2027, and 20,180 net new units in Year 4 by June 2028.

With 2,567 net new units in the first six months of Year 1, the City has already achieved 61% of its goal for the first year of the legislated targets.

It should also be noted that these legislated targets also include a variety of sub-targets based on housing tenure and unit size.

Out of the overall total of 27,256 net new units that should reach completion by June 2029, this should include 12,069 ownership units and 15,187 secured purpose-built rental homes in terms of the housing tenure mix, and 14,786 studio and one-bedroom units, 5,350 two-bedroom units, and 7,119 three or bedroom units in terms of the unit size mix. For the secured purpose-built rental housing mix, 8,290 units should be market rental housing and 6,897 units should be below-market rental housing. Additionally, Surrey should also strive to achieve 452 net new supportive housing units.

The municipal government has expressed confidence that it will meet its five-year legislated targets. Currently, there are over 44,300 units with rezoning conditional approval awaiting construction and over 13,700 units with issued building permits that are at various stages of construction.

Over the past year, the municipal government has rolled out over 25 major process improvements to accelerate the approval and construction of new housing, including early excavation permits, simplified multiplex development permits, development and permit approval timelines, and various new incentive programs.

With tens of thousands of new homes on the horizon, Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke reiterated the City’s longstanding position that its growing population must be better supported with improved services and infrastructure.

“Surrey is proud to be exceeding our provincially mandated housing targets,” said Mayor Brenda Locke.

“As we continue to make strides towards increasing our affordable and accessible housing, it’s vital that the province invests in the necessary infrastructure to support our growing community. It is crucial that there are enough schools, transit and healthcare facilities to support these new homes and residents in order to foster a vibrant and well-supported community.”

The City also recently shared that throughout 2024, it issued enough building permit approvals to produce a net housing gain of 6,297 units, achieving a new all-time record.

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