After a two-month review was conducted of Oak Bay and West Vancouver, BC’s Minister of Housing, Ravi Kahlon, says there is more that can be done.
In 2023, the BC government passed the Housing Supply Act, with the purpose of identifying municipalities that needed more housing and providing them with a target number of homes to build.
If those municipalities are unable to streamline their policies to approve and build more housing, the Province has the authority to step in and approve housing initiatives themselves.
Oak Bay was singled out as a municipality that needed to increase their housing supply, along with Victoria and eight other cities throughout the province.
In the first year of being under the microscope, Oak Bay delivered only 16 of its goal of 56 net-new units.
Over five years, Oak Bay is to build 644 new homes.
Kahlon says that although the majority of cities have been doing great to meet and in some cases surpass their housing targets, Oak Bay and West Vancouver remain outliers who are not putting in adequate efforts.
“Earlier this year, I appointed advisors to review a lack of progress toward issued housing targets in the districts of Oak Bay and West Vancouver,” explained Kahlon.
“The advisors conducted a two-month review assessing each district’s steps to increasing housing supply, including development approval processes, land-use planning, and housing policies and practices.”
After reviewing the advisors’ reports, along with their recommendations, Kahlon has sent letters to the municipal councils of both Oak Bay and West Vancouver in an effort to see some progress.
Additionally, through the Housing Supply Act, Kahlon has given a deadline of 30 days for the two municipalities to reply to the directives provided.
Oak Bay’s recommendations are as follows:
- Amend their Development Application Procedures bylaw to delegate minor variances to municipal staff by January 31st, 2026
- Amend its Parking Facilities bylaw to better align multi-unit residential parking requirements with best practices—a minimum of one parking stall per unit where the bylaw currently requires a minimum of more than one parking stall per unit, by January 31st, 2026
Furthermore, Minister Kahlon weighed in on the matter of the proposed development at Carnarvon Park, saying the municipality would not be required to push it through.
He added that he urges the council to seek alternative sites for development.
“Let me be clear: This is not about punishing communities or removing authority from locally elected municipal councils,” said Kahlon.
“The goal of local housing targets is centred around working with municipalities to remove unnecessary barriers to affordability and get more homes built for people faster, and ensuring we are building healthy and economically vibrant neighbourhoods for people.”
Thus far, 30 municipalities have been identified through the Housing Supply Act as needing to streamline their approval processes.
