Although the Capital Regional District (CRD) elected a new board chair earlier this month, Saanich Coun. Zac de Vries retained his position as chair of the Capital Region Housing Corporation (CRHC) for a second term.
Re-elected on Nov. 13, de Vries enthusiastically welcomed the news.
“I am really excited to be back and have the continued trust and support of my regional colleagues,” said de Vries. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
The young politician remains committed to his role as the CRD's housing czar, working with provincial and federal governments to secure additional funding for the creation of new affordable housing in Greater Victoria.
When de Vries first assumed this role in 2022, he noted that the Regional Housing First Program was below its forecasted target of 2,000 units. By the end of his first term, he is proud to have achieved that milestone and now aims to double it.
Believing the region is on the right track, de Vries announced having secured funding for an additional 1,000 units. His goal for this year is to secure funding for another 1,000 units, bringing the CRHC's total housing stock to 4,000.
Adopting a proactive mindset, the young politician aims to secure additional funding and expand housing construction across the region.
“[Before there] was a desire among some to wait until we finish constructing and then keep going [but my approach] has been to keep pursuing investment and keep a continuous stream of planning, development, and people moving in.”
Although de Vries highlighted securing double the funding from the province compared to previous investments, he acknowledged that the challenge remains in meeting expectations by turning this money into completed, habitable units.
“We've secured the funding, but then we need the staff capacity to actually move… at a higher rate,” he said. “If we're not able to do that, it will make it harder for us to ask for even more investment from senior governments.”
Despite being a tall order, de Vries is poised to fulfill his promises adding that the CRHC is the “single biggest deliverer of rental housing in the region, with 52 buildings right now.”
“When we look at our whole portfolio, 70 per cent of it at rent geared to income [restrictions] which ties people's rent to 30 per cent of their income,” he said. “Approximately 20 per cent of that is provincial shelter rate so we're talking $500 a month or less. The other 30 per cent is an innovation that we call near market affordablet [that] comes in a little bit below market rates.”
