Staff Report to Council - Interim Housing Needs Report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The Province of British Columbia has made amendments to the Local Government Act to require local governments to complete an Interim Housing Needs Report (HNR). The Interim HNRs are intended to assist both local governments and the Provincial government in better understanding and responding to housing needs in municipalities.

In accordance with Section 790 of the Local Government Act, local governments are required to receive, by resolution, the Interim HNR at an open meeting on or before January 1, 2025. The Interim HNR will be affixed to the City of Langford’s current HNR which was received by Council in December 2020.

BACKGROUND:

The Provincial government introduced the first legislative requirements for Housing Needs Reports in 2019 to strengthen the ability of local governments to understand and anticipate local housing needs by collecting data, analyzing trends and completing reports that describe the number of housing units required to address existing demand and future demand over the next five years. As part of this, projected population growth was considered as well as quantitative and qualitative information about demographics, household incomes, housing stock, and other factors. Local governments were required to complete their first HNR within three years and every five years thereafter. The City of Langford’s HNR was received by Council in December 2020.

Amendments to the Local Government Act were introduced in 2023 changing the timing and content requirements for HNRs. Municipalities must now prepare an Interim Housing Needs Report by January 1, 2025, using the HNR Method created by the Province to identify the 5 and 20 year housing need.

Furthermore, through these amendments, the Local Government Act now requires municipalities to update their Official Community Plans (OCPs) and Zoning Bylaws by December 31, 2025, to reflect the number of units required to accommodate the 20-year housing need as identified in the Interim HNR. Following the completion of the Interim HNR, local governments are required to complete a full HNR by December 31, 2028, and every five years thereafter, to ensure alignment with the Census cycle.

COMMENTARY:

INTERIM HOUSING NEEDS REPORT

In accordance with the Local Government Act the Interim HNR must include three new items:

1. The number of housing units required to meet current and anticipated need for the next 5 and 20 years, as calculated using the HNR Method provided in the Regulation;

2. A statement about the need for housing in close proximity to transportation infrastructure that supports walking, bicycling, public transit or other alternative forms of transportation; and

3. A description of the actions taken by the local government, since receiving the most recent Housing Needs Report, to reduce housing needs.

In accordance with the legislation, Appendix A (Interim HNR) of this report will be affixed to the City’s current HNR, which was received in December 2020.

HNR METHOD

The HNR Method is the methodology that local governments are required by the Province to utilize in order to calculate the total number of housing units their communities will need for the next 5 and 20 year periods. The HNR Calculator, developed by the University of British Columbia (UBC) Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) program, analyzes and calculates six components of housing need based on publicly available data, that are then added together to provide the total number of housing units needed in a municipality. The six components include:

1. Supply of units to reduce extreme core housing need (those paying more than 50% of income for housing);

2. Supply of units to reduce homelessness;

3. Supply of units to address suppressed household formation;

4. Supply of units needed to meet household growth over the next 5 or 20 years;

5. Supply of units needed to meet at least a 3% vacancy rate; and

6. Supply of units needed to meet local demand. (This component is only included for municipalities.)

To address anticipated housing needs, the HNR calculator has determined that 5,081 new units are needed in the next five years and 16,942 new units are needed in the next 20 years to address housing need in Langford.

Appendix A provides a further breakdown of the six components and their 5- and 20-year need, as well as the required statements. For further context, staff have included updated information with respect to household tenure, building permit stats, and proportion of dwelling by structure type.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:

There are no known financial implications with this report.

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS:

As noted, the legislation requires municipalities to update the OCP and zoning bylaw by December 31, 2025, to accommodate the specified 5-year and 20-year housing need. Staff are currently working on the OCP Refresh Project identified in Council’s 2023-2027 Strategic Plan and will incorporate the number of required units into the OCP as part of this work, which has an anticipated completion timeline of Spring 2025.

Following the adoption of the new OCP Bylaw, staff will commence a review of the Zoning Bylaw to ensure the required number of housing units is accommodated. This may require the City to strategically pre-zone portions of the City for higher density residential development to ensure compliance with the Local Government Act.

Should local governments fail to comply with the legislative requirement to receive the Interim HNR by the deadline of January 1, 2025, the Province may introduce regulations that complete the interim HNR in their municipality.

STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:

• 1a – Refresh the Official Community Plan
• 1k – Update the Housing Needs Report
• 1p – Review the Zoning Bylaw to Ensure Alignment with the Housing Needs Report and OCP

OPTIONS:

Option 1 THAT Council receive the Interim Housing Needs Report, attached as Appendix A to the staff report dated October 7, 2024.

OR Option 2 THAT Council take no action at this time with respect to the Interim Housing Needs Report.

SUBMITTED BY:

Matt Notley, Planner II, Community Planning and Climate Change

Concurrence:

• Melisa Miles, Manager of Legislative Services
• Donna Petrie, Senior Manager of Communications & Economic Development
• Yari Nielsen, Director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities
• Matthew Baldwin, RPP, MCIP, Director of Development Services
• Leah Stohmann, RPP, MCIP, Director of Community Planning and Climate Change
• Katelyn Balzer, P.Eng., Director of Engineering and Public Works
• Michael Dillabaugh, CPA, CA, Director of Finance
• Braden Hutchins, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer

Attachments: Appendix A – Appendix B of the Interim Housing Needs Report