City of Surrey to scrap rezonings for new low-rise affordable rental housing | Daily Hive

City of Surrey to scrap rezonings for new low-rise non-market rental housing projects

The 2025-built Sunshine co-operative housing building at 13225 104 Avenue, Surrey. (Community Land Trust)

The City of Surrey is moving to cut red tape for affordable housing providers, with a new “as-of-right” zoning initiative that would allow qualifying low-rise, below-market rental housing proposals to bypass the lengthy rezoning application process — enabling such projects to start their development timeline with the municipal government at the development permit and building permit stages.

Earlier this week, Surrey City Council endorsed the new approach in principle, and provided City staff with the green light to draft changes to the bylaws, policies, and regulations, which will be reviewed by City Council at a later date for final approval.

The plan, part of Surrey’s municipal government’s strategy under the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) Action Plan, aims to make it easier and faster for non-profit organizations, co-operatives, and government agencies to build affordable rental housing.

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Under the new framework, eligible developments that meet Official Community Plan (OCP) requirements would no longer need rezoning before applying for permits, saving months of approval time and reducing costs.

These policy changes would remove the rezoning application step for low-rise, below-market rental housing developments up to six storeys or up to eight storeys in provincially-legislated Transit-Oriented Areas — if the property is designated for low-rise residential use in the OCP, the project is owned and operated by a non-profit organization, co-operative, or government agency, all units are secured purpose-built rental housing, affordability is guaranteed, and the project meets density, height, and setback rules.

City staff state in their report the rezoning process is a major barrier for non-profit entities seeking government funding to build affordable housing. Financing programs often have tight deadlines, and the uncertainty of rezoning can force projects to miss funding windows or lose out to other municipal governments with faster approval timelines.

Surrey’s latest Housing Needs Report estimates a requirement for over 53,000 new additional homes in the next five years, including nearly 11,000 affordable rental units. Yet, as of 2024, the jurisdiction had just 6,349 non-market housing units — less than half the per-capita rate seen across the Metro Vancouver region. Meanwhile, market rents have soared by 83 per cent in a decade — from $846 to $1,548 per month — and households on BC Housing’s waitlist in Surrey have more than tripled to over 4,000 since 2013.

A public survey conducted by the City this past spring found that 58 per cent of residents support policy changes to facilitate non-market rental housing projects, while 25 per cent were opposed. Non-profit housing providers also expressed support for the proposed policies but recommended allowing partnerships with private developers and providing greater design flexibility.

City staff also named the municipal governments of New Westminster, Victoria, Saanich, and Squamish as examples of other cities that have enacted similar policies, made possible by recent legislative changes by the provincial government.

As well, the City of Vancouver is currently in the process of considering abolishing the rezoning application step for social housing and co-operative housing projects across much of the city’s geographical area, including in many single-family neighbourhoods. Such projects could potentially reach up to 18 storeys in designated “Neighbourhood Centres” and up to six storeys in designated “Village” areas. Vancouver City Council is expected to decide on this approach in late 2025.

Supported by federal funding from its awarded allocation of the HAF, the City of Surrey has already implemented a number of other measures to help enact more housing, including reducing a very wide range of building development-related application fees by 50 per cent for projects within 1.5 km of an existing SkyTrain station (Scott Road, Gateway, Surrey Central, or King George) or an existing RapidBus route (R1 King George Boulevard or R6 Scott Road RapidBus). This transit-oriented development incentive — the Rapid Transit Incentive Program — contributed to 2,380 net new home permits in 2024.

As well, also made possible by the HAF, the Non-Market Incentive Program advanced 180 below-market rental homes in 2024.

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