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Vancouver Sun

Metro Vancouver report shows region building only half the housing that municipalities need

Article content The Northeast Sub-Region, which includes Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody, has a need for 4,289 new homes per year versus 2,522 annual completions, a rate of 8.9 per 1,000 population. Article content The Ridge Meadows Sub-Region of Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Barnston Island has a need for 2,046 units per year, but only saw an average 700 annual completions from 2020 to 2024, some 5.5 per 1,000 population, the lowest level among sub-regions. Article content Surrey, White Rock and the Langleys, which comprise the South of Fraser-East Sub-Region, has a need for 14,741 new homes per year, but saw 6,823 annual completions, or 7.7 per 1,000 population. Article content Richmond, Delta and the scəẃaθən məsteyəxʷ Nation, which make up the South of Fraser-West Sub-Region, needs some 5,191 new homes per year but has had an average of 2,302 annual completions, or 6.4 per 1,000 population. Article content The North Shore Sub-Region, which includes Bowen Island and Lions Bay, along with North and West Vancouver, needs 3,606 new homes while only completing an annual average of 1,530 — seven per 1,000 population. Article content Article content Developers '(remain) committed to increasing housing supply' but 'governments must take immediate steps to reduce the cost of building new homes,' McMullin said. Article content Lowering the development cost charges Metro has raised would be one step, she added. Article content Municipalities, however, are under pressure from the province to both streamline approvals for higher numbers of new housing and also pay for the water and sewer infrastructure to allow for that housing, according to planning expert Andy Yan. Article content 'It really goes to the fact that the issue of housing isn't just about zoning and regulations,' said Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University. 'It's (also) attached to things like finance.' Article content Within the overall needs report, however, the picture for housing deemed affordable is more dire with a need for some 11,400 new homes per year from 2022 to 2026, but an average of just 433 annual completions between 2020 and 2024. Article content At that rate, supply barely scratches the known demand of 25,000 to 30,000 British Columbians on waiting lists for affordable units, said Jill Atkey, CEO of the B.C. Non Profit Housing Association. Article content Article content 'The caution I give with that number is there are far, far more people who don't even bother putting their names on the wait list because (it's) insufferably long,' Atkey said. Article content Atkey said the province has made 'historic investment' in non-market housing but filling the gap will require more sustained contributions from the federal government.