6,500 homes reach completion in Surrey, exceeding annual target by 53% | Daily Hive

Nearly 6,500 homes reach completion in Surrey, exceeding first-year legislated housing targets by 53%

Surrey City Centre. (EB Adventure Photography/Shutterstock)

The City of Surrey has exceeded its first-year housing target set by the Government of British Columbia, according to a City staff report presented to Surrey City Council earlier this week.

Between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, the City granted occupancy to 6,488 net new housing units — 53 per cent above the provincial goal of 4,233 units for the first year of the legislated targets.

“I am so excited to announce that the City of Surrey is exceeding the provincially imposed housing targets by more than 50 per cent in the first year, demonstrating our commitment to increasing housing supply in the city,” said Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke in a statement.

“We have made great progress and will continue to take bold steps to streamline our processes to support diverse housing options.”

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The update comes after the provincial government issued a five-year housing target for Surrey in June 2024, requiring the City to enable the creation of 27,256 net new units by mid-2029. Such legislated targets — including the annual cumulative, incremental targets — are based on actual housing construction completions and not merely regulatory approvals.

To date, after announcing three sets of target orders under the Housing Supply Act, each involving 10 cities, a total of 30 municipal governments across B.C. are currently under these orders, with the latest batch of 10 cities announced in Summer 2024. Up to 17 more cities could still receive target orders, as the provincial government’s Housing Supply Act of 2023 lists a total of 43 cities. Target orders have not yet been issued for major Metro Vancouver cities such as Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Richmond, which have been particularly vocal in their opposition to various provincial housing legislations.

According to the provincial government, jurisdictions that are far behind their targets to date and do not demonstrate an urgency or need to shift their municipal policies are subject to provincial intervention or even punitive action. So far, this has been the case for the District of West Vancouver and the District of Oak Bay.

This week’s municipal progress report notes that Surrey currently has more than 45,100 units with conditional rezoning approval and another 13,100 units that have received building permits and are at various stages of construction. The City emphasizes the importance of accelerating these projects through the construction and occupancy phases.

“The progress in the first year of reporting is significant,” said Ron Gill, the City’s general manager of planning and development. “Currently, there are a number of housing units in various stages of the development and construction approval process. The focus will continue to be working with the industry to ensure these projects move through the permitting process, ensure compliance and finalize construction.”

City staff note Surrey remains on track to meet its cumulative housing target for 2026, based on the current pace of completions, active construction, and applications moving through the review process.

However, Metro Vancouver’s housing market is challenged by escalating project costs — due to soaring construction material, labour, and equipment costs, high borrowing costs for construction financing, and municipal/regionally-imposed development fees.

There is also currently lower housing demand due to slower immigration, high borrowing costs, and economic uncertainties, resulting in more challenging pre-sale conditions to finalize construction financing agreements. Currently, many approved housing projects in Metro Vancouver are stalled.

For these reasons, critics of the provincial government’s legislated targets, including select municipal governments, assert that housing completions are driven by macroeconomic forces and are largely out of their control. But industry leaders and developers have argued that lower municipal/regional development fees and more flexible payment schedules could nudge more projects into the realm of financial viability, enabling their construction.

Over the past year, the City notes it has introduced over 30 process improvements aimed at reducing approval timelines and supporting the development industry in delivering more homes.

Also, during the public meeting earlier this week, City Council endorsed a number of housing development and permitting improvements to streamline operations, clarify expectations for applications, and simplify the overall processes. This includes relaunching the certified professional program, clear application submission deadlines to City Council, streamlined urban design review processes and waivers for development permit requirements, a minor tenant improvement program to expedite the process for simple projects, and a simplified application fee.

“These updates are all about removing red tape and getting homes built faster. We’re committed to creating a system of facilitation versus regulation,” continued Mayor Locke.

While acknowledging the strong housing performance to date, Locke reiterated the need for the provincial government to match Surrey’s pace with infrastructure investments.

“While the City is exceeding the mandated housing targets, we need to see the province stepping up to build the infrastructure we need — our hospital is in crisis, schools are overcrowded, and we need to see more bus and transportation improvements for our growing population. The province wants Surrey to build housing, and we need to see them build the infrastructure we need,” said the mayor.

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