Kelowna’s provincial housing target set at over 8,700 new units

The City of Kelowna’s housing target has been set.

The provincial government announced that, as part of the second round of the housing target program, Kelowna would need to build 8,774 new units over the next five years.

Kelowna is part of the second round of communities, which include nine other communities located in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island that were announced in April. All together, the select communities are expected to build over 55,000 new housing units.

The communities in the second round with the highest new unit targets are Surrey (27,256), Kelowna, Chilliwack (4.594) and Nanaimo (4,703).

The unveiling of the second round targets comes nearly 4,000 new homes had already been delivered in the communities in the first round of the housing target program within just six months.

“People in B.C. are seeing more homes being built in their communities as municipalities progress toward achieving their housing targets,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing.

“We are, as a province, starting to see progress with record levels of housing starts in 2023 and we are on pace to meet or exceed that level in 2024. We will continue to collaborate meaningfully with municipalities to encourage faster creation of homes so people can stay in the communities they love.”

Kamloops was included in the first round of communities with a target of 679 new units, and the province said the Interior city had already delivered 45 per cent of its goal, or 305 new units, within six months.

The province noted the combined 3,975 new units constructed during that first six month period already accounts for nearly 42 per cent of the province’s five-year target of 9,522 new units within those 10 municipalities.

It was also stated that the province has taken action to make it easier for communities to hit those goals, such as by updating zoning bylaws and Official Community Plans to accomodate more flexibility in housing unit construction, creating housing strategies, identifying municipal lands to use for affordable housing, updating development permit and approval processes to streamline processing, and establishing partnerships with non-profit organizations, B.C. Housing and First Nations.