Despite falling short of this year's provincial housing target, Saanich council remains hopeful of reaching the 2025 numbers as the municipality issued three times the amount of building permits in the last 12 months.
Saanich added 338 units to its housing stock, which is below the provincial target set at 440 for this reporting period, between Oct. 1, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024. By 2028, the district is required to reach 4,610 new units.
However, Saanich staff reported a sharp rise in building permits issued, totalling 1,081 during that same period, tripling the numbers offered in previous years. This increase now puts the municipality on track to surpass next year’s goal of 1,041 new units.
Despite this year’s under-performance, Coun. Teal Phelps Bondaroff remains optimistic, focusing on the progress made since the housing target was set.
“I think there's a lot of work being done,” said Bondaroff at the Oct 28 council meeting. “It's really promising to see us getting close to the numbers.
“It's also promising… seeing more projects coming through the council at a rate that's higher than we've seen in the past, which means that we're doing better and we're getting more houses in the district."
Mayor Dean Murdock said that Saanich has been working to streamline its processes and reduce delays in completing new housing projects and commended staff for their efforts to achieve faster results.
With nearly a third of the issued permits allocated for below-market housing, Murdock is optimistic that Saanich will see significant changes in the coming years as it works to diversify its housing supply.
“There's a lot of great work that's going on here,” said Murdock. “That's going to be evident in future reporting years as those translate into occupancy and that starts to become evident in our future housing reports.”
Introduced in 2022, the Provincial Housing Supply Act has allowed the province to set housing targets for municipalities facing high housing demand and expected growth.
Municipalities issued housing target orders must report their progress annually. If a municipality can’t meet its target, the minister of housing may appoint an advisor to review the municipality’s progress and make recommendations.
As a last resort, the B.C. government may issue a directive to require the municipality to enact or amend a bylaw or accept or reject a permit to help meet the target.
