City short on housing targets

Even though hundreds of homes have been built or have been approved for construction, the City of Kamloops has fallen short of meeting its provincially-mandated housing targets this year.

These targets were set by B.C.'s Ministry of Housing in the fall of 2023.

Eric Beach, the city's planning manager, told council during Tuesday’s meeting that occupancy permits have been issued for 449 net new units between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024.

That's 230 fewer units than the provincial target for the first reporting year, which is set at 679.

Beach said several other hundreds of units have been approved by council — they just haven’t reached the point of being issued an occupancy permit.

“If you were to look at those numbers, if they were all occupied, you would meet that total, but that's not the target — it’s occupied units that we've done in one year’s time,” Beach said.

Beach said council approved 701 units through rezoning applications and 362 units through registered development permits. Meanwhile, staff approved 725 units through building permits.

“Units are under construction, they just don't have occupancy,” Beach said.

A staff report prepared for council noted that as of March 30, 2024, the city was on track to meet the first year’s housing targets but “the last six months tapered off for unit occupancies granted.”

Coun. Margot Middleton said while the city is short for this year's provincial housing targets, it might catch up in later years.

"Good on us to have gained the ground that we have in year one under sort of difficult circumstances, and challenging times with interest rates,” she said.

She said she felt the city should take it one year at a time with an eye on the final number of units needed, noting the provincial government could also review its policy in the years ahead and make changes to the targets.

The five-year housing target for Kamloops is 4,236 units of housing. By year two, the city will need to have added 735 new homes, 819 in year three, 931 in year four and 1,072 in year five.