qathet Region District’s (qRD) board of directors has voted to update its housing needs assessment for Electoral Areas A, B, C and D.
At the June 28 regional board meeting, directors considered a recommendation that the regional district allocate $12,500 in a contract to Patricia Maloney to complete an updated housing needs assessment.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said housing is a very important need for the region. He said the qRD planning committee is in the process of conducting public engagement for changing the official community plans (OCP) for Electoral Areas A, B and C.
“There is a notice of motion coming to the planning committee for Area B’s OCP, and my thought would be that after we implement those changes, if the board decides to implement the changes based on public feedback, then we should move forward with a building needs assessment,” said Gisborne. “When you change the OCPs in relation to housing density, that will have a real impact on what our housing needs are and our ability to provide them, and what the recommendations from the consultant will be.
“I would be more in favour of finding out what the housing needs assessments would be after those policies are changed. I’d be happy to see this item in the fall or next year after the public engagement. That way, we are making sure we are getting the most bang for our buck.”
Electoral Area C director and board chair Clay Brander asked about the need for the assessment or if the assessment could be easily postponed to a later date. Manager of planning services Laura Roddan said the issue with the housing needs assessment is that it is based on old data from the 2016 census. She said the current housing needs assessment recommended updating the assessment in 2023 to take advantage of the newest census data, which became available at the end of 2022.
“The housing needs assessment under the Local Government Act is based on census data and other data compiled by local governments,” said Roddan. “It’s not based on official community plans or policy direction. It is more cost effective to do the update in 2023 because the regional district will not need to do an update again for five years. Because we are doing it so soon after the other assessment, we won’t need to go for the community engagement, and it won’t cost as much.”
Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick said she agrees with what Roddan had said. She said she was finding in her electoral area on Texada Island that the faster growth scenario outlined in the original report was being exceeded, so it would be very helpful to have an update so there can be a more accurate picture.
“To me, it’s important to understand the needs and then change the OCP if necessary to meet those needs, not the other way around,” said McCormick.
City director Cindy Elliott said the recommendation was to update the study pertaining to the electoral areas. She wondered why the City of Powell River was not included.
Roddan said there was not a corresponding recommendation for the city in the housing needs report to update the city’s needs assessment in 2023.
City director George Doubt said nationally there is an expanding shortage of housing.
“We have a housing shortage and it’s not getting less short,” said Doubt. “We need to do something about growing housing in our regional district, city, and province. The urgency of it is there is a housing shortage nationally and locally.”
Gisborne said the $12,500 expenditure would tell the regional district what it already knows: that there is a shortage of housing.
“Something I’m hearing from members of the public is: are you going to study a problem or take action on a problem?” said Gisborne. “Since we’ve already studied it, it’s better for us to be putting our money towards taking action.”
The board voted for the housing assessment update, with Gisborne opposed.
