Almost 259,500 new homes will be needed over the next 20 years in four south of the Fraser communities combined alone, including the City of Delta.
Municipalities and regional districts were required by the province to complete interim Housing Needs Reports (HNR) by Jan. 1, using what’s called a standardized new HNR Method to calculate estimated housing needs in the next five years as well as the next 20 years.
The requirement is part of the government’s housing legislation introduced in the fall of 2023.
Completing a full Housing Needs Assessment which guided the formation of a Housing Action Plan a couple of years ago, Delta completed and submitted its interim HNR report to update the current assessment last fall.
A staff report notes the interim update assessment required Delta to add several more factors to the city’s existing 2020 HNR.
The city’s next full HNR will need to be completed by Dec. 31, 2028, and every five years thereafter.
Delta’s update identified the city requiring 9,788 units from August 2024 to August 2029, and the interim HNR also identified Delta needing 29,457 new units over a 20-year period.
The numbers are not a requirement by the province that must be met, however.
Delta’s numbers are dwarfed by the City of Surrey’s numbers in its interim HNR report, which updates that city’s last full HNR in 2022.
It identifies that city will require 169,221 new housing units over the next 20 years.
The Surrey interim HNR identifies several goals including building more housing near transit and active transportation, densification along rapid bus corridors like King George Boulevard and Scott Road, as well as aligning affordable housing development with the upcoming SkyTrain extension from City Centre to Langley.
The information in Surrey’s 2024 interim report will be used to guide future housing policy, including the required review and update of the Official Community Plan (OCP) and Surrey Zoning Bylaw. Surrey is also preparing another full HNR report that will be available in 2025.
After that, as in other communities, the next full report will need to be completed by Dec. 31, 2028, and every five years thereafter, as per provincial requirements.
Meanwhile, the City of Richmond’s interim HNR, which updates that city’s 2021 HNR, estimates that 51,981 units are needed over a 20-year horizon.
The Richmond report notes that the 20-year average supply of housing needed is 2,600 units annually, while the city’s last full HNR in 2021 stated that 1,800 housing units are needed annually to 2026. Housing unit completions over the past decade have averaged approximately 1,980 per year, satisfying the forecasted need outlined in the 2021 HNR. However, the findings of the interim HNR shows that there will be a shortfall of 620 units annually, beyond historic averages, pending some adjustment in the delivery of more housing.
As far as the City of White Rock, its interim HNR determined that 8,816 new units are needed in the next 20 years to address the anticipated housing needs in that city.
That report notes that White Rock’s 2021 HNR identified that any additional cost, such as reliance on automobiles for the primary means of transportation, is a cost burden that influences housing affordability, so the city will continue to seek ways to encourage and promote increased density along prescribed transit routes.
