The District of Saanich has revealed the latest data on how close they are to meeting the provincial housing targets they were assigned by the BC government.
Their latest progress report shows that they are close, but not quite on par with the Province’s housing target.
In 2023, the District was given five years to build 4,610 units of housing to completion.
As of September 30th, 2025, the District has been able to complete 810 net new units, when they should have built 1,041 by this point.
The progress report shows that in the first year since the housing targets were assigned, the District built 368 new homes and in the second year, 442 were completed.
With just three years remaining on meeting their targets, the District must complete 3,800 new units.
According to the District, even though they did not meet the target for completed units, there are a lot of projects in the works.
“A major highlight of the report is that nearly half of the units issued through Development Permits are for non-market units, which is so encouraging and will help more people find a home at a price they can afford,” said Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock.
“Additionally, we are exceeding provincial targets for the creation of family-suitable 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom units, which will allow more families to settle in our community.”
Saanich was one of the first 10 communities identified for need of assigned housing targets by the Province, along with fellow Vancouver Island municipalities Victoria and Oak Bay.
Victoria’s housing target was set at 4,902 units and Oak Bay was tasked with building 664.
As of this publication, neither Victoria or Oak Bay have released their second year’s progress reports, however; Victoria was ahead of their targets with 1,477 built in just the first year.
Oak Bay on the other hand, came under criticism from the Ministry of Housing after their first year’s progress report revealed they had only built 16 new units.
Following the first round of housing targets being doled out by the Province, more Vancouver Island municipalities have also been identified, including Nanaimo, Central Saanich, Esquimalt, Sidney, North Cowichan, North Saanich and View Royal.
The fourth round of targeted municipalities is forthcoming, according to the Province.
