List of 47 cities in British Columbia targeted for the Housing Supply Act

Construction for new residential buildings near the Richmond Olympic Oval in Richmond, BC. (Max Lindenthaler/Shutterstock)

A total of 47 municipal jurisdictions across British Columbia are being targeted by the provincial government for inclusion in the Housing Supply Act.

So far, the provincial government has announced the first batch of cities, with BC Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon naming 10 cities last month — Vancouver, West Vancouver, North Vancouver (district), Port Moody, Delta, Abbotsford, Victoria, Oak Bay, Saanich, and Kamloops.

Kahlon also noted another eight to 10 cities for a second batch will be announced in late 2023, at which point the provincial government will communicate to the municipal governments of their required involvement to formally kick off the process.

The process is already underway for the first batch of municipalities, with the cities provided with a 30-day window to assess the province’s housing supply targets for their jurisdiction before making the targets public.

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According to the approved order last month, the number of cities actively under the legislation could eventually formally grow to 47 jurisdictions province-wide.

Nearly all jurisdictions in Metro Vancouver are represented in the list; out of the 23 local and municipal jurisdictions in the region, 20 are named. Only the University Endowment Lands (UBC), Bowen Island, and the Tsawwassen Lands (Tsawwassen First Nation) are excluded. Five jurisdictions in Metro Vancouver are already under the Housing Supply Act under the first batch of cities.

The full list also includes the Fraser Valley jurisdictions of Abbotsford and Chhilliwack, and the Sea to Sky Corridor jurisdiction of Squamish.

Here is the full list of 47 specified municipalities in the order enacting the Housing Supply Act, with Metro Vancouver jurisdictions bolded:

City of Abbotsford
City of Burnaby
City of Chilliwack
City of Colwood
City of Coquitlam
City of Delta
City of Kamloops
City of Kelowna
City of Langford
City of Langley
City of Maple Ridge
City of Mission
City of Nanaimo
City of New Westminster
City of North Vancouver
City of Pitt Meadows
City of Port Coquitlam
City of Port Moody
City of Prince George
City of Richmond
City of Surrey
City of Vancouver
City of West Kelowna
City of White Rock
District of Highlands
District of Lantzville
District of Metchosin
District of North Saanich
District of Sooke
District of Squamish
District of West Vancouver
City of Duncan
City of Victoria
District of Central Saanich
District of Oak Bay
District of North Cowichan
District of North Vancouver
District of Saanich
Township of Esquimalt
Township of Langley
Town of Ladysmith
Town of Lake Cowichan
Town of Sidney
Town of View Royal
Village of Anmore
Village of Belcarra
Village of Lions Bay

Generally, all of the cities that can be expected to be included in the Housing Supply Act are listed. In determining whether they should be under the legislation’s umbrella, the provincial government scored cities by factoring in various indicators relating to housing availability, affordability, and unrealized potential in delivering more homes for people

The order specifies that upon request, the municipal governments must prepare and provide housing-related information to the Minister.

The type of information sought includes the area and local of land in the jurisdiction that is zoned for residential, commercial, industrial, and other uses; the planned residential density of subdivided vacant and undeveloped land; the number of residential lots that have not been built upon; the number of building applications received by the municipality; the median time from receipt of a building application to a decision by the municipality on the application; the number of permits issued in relation to the building applications and the number of housing units to which the permits relate; the number of building applications that were refused; details on development constraints such as municipal infrastructure capacity; and copies of municipal zoning maps, housing overlays, and public transit corridors.

The Housing Supply Act establishes new housing supply quotas for municipal governments to achieve, but it is up for the cities to decide on how to fulfill their targets assigned by the provincial government. Progress updates with the municipalities will be conducted every six months.

The final quotas for the first batch of cities will be announced this summer.

As one of the initial steps, the provincial government will push cities to get their community/area plans in place.

Kahlon also previously noted that the provincial government will work with cities experiencing challenges with meeting their targets. The legislation provides the provincial government to directly intervene into municipalities for their non-compliance, but this is an option of last resort.

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