As the District of Oak Bay fails to build enough housing to meet the provincial housing targets set out one year ago, the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs says it is taking action to make sure the district keeps up with housing needs.
On Wednesday, Dec. 18, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon released a report showing how many housing units were built by the first round of municipalities that were given housing targets in late 2023.
"[The report] shows three categories," said Kahlon in a phone interview. "You've got communities that are doing well, you've got communities that are making some progress, and then you've got two communities, in this case the District of Oak Bay and West Vancouver, which are struggling to keep pace with the amount of housing we need."
Oak Bay was given a target of 56 units, and over the year they only built 16 units, or about 29 per cent of their targets.
"It's frustrating, and it's frustrating for communities when they're making tough decisions on approving housing when neighbouring communities are not doing their part, and that is clearly the case here," said Kahlon, who grew up "in-between" Oak Bay and Saanich. "I mean, if you look at the amount of housing Victoria and Saanich are approving, and compare it to the district of Oak Bay, it's a significant difference."
In comparison, Saanich built about 77 per cent of their 440 mandated units, and Victoria built 224 per cent of their 659 mandated units.
Over the next 30 days, ministry staff will be in conversations with the district to help identify what went wrong. Then, Kahlon has two avenues he can take to try and support the district.
"Within the legislation, I'll have the ability to either bring in an advisor that can look at decisions the council has made, look at the processes local governments have in place to improve housing in a quicker way. So that's one route," he said. "And the other route is I have the ability to step in and make changes at the local government level, if those changes are needed, to be able to improve housing quicker."
Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch, however, says this process does not sound like help, and it would use "valuable" staff time to report to an advisor, rather than advancing housing.
"We informed them a year ago that we didn’t have enough projects in the pipeline to meet year one targets, so it’s hardly a surprise today to be 40 units short. It is somewhat concerning that the minister has chosen to single out the two smallest of the first 10 communities, when seven did not meet their first-year targets," Murdoch said in an emailed statement.
He says the province's letter indicates a willingness to override new policies that were recently put in place with consultation with the community, industry, and planning best practices, "effectively ignoring the will of the community in designing its future." He also says it shows the province doesn't understand the work that has been completed on housing.
"A year ago we asked the province to re-ground this entire discussion in the principles of municipal-provincial relations outlined in the Community Charter, based on respect and recognition for communities and local government jurisdiction/decision-making. Any movement away from these key principals is deeply concerning for communities across the province, not just those with housing targets," he noted.
Overall, Murdoch says he remains hopeful that the province will work with the district as partners for housing in the future.
