Housing

Housing Needs

Since 2019, BC has required local governments to complete a Housing Needs Report (HNR) every five years, with the first reports required by 2022. Although the mandate called for an estimated number of housing units needed over the next five years to meet demand, it lacked standardized guidelines or methodology for producing these estimates. As a result, most communities projected household growth based on the previous five years, which often reinforced existing shortages or mismatches within the housing system. Additionally, no enforcement mechanism or policy implementation requirement was included to address underestimates of housing need.

In 2023, amendments to the Local Government Act and the Vancouver Charter introduced additional requirements for HNRs. Local governments, including Regional Districts, are now required to follow a standardized methodology (the HNR method, described in Section 3) to project housing needs over 5- and 20-year timeframes. Municipalities are further required to develop policies that accommodate the identified number of housing units when updating official community plans and zoning bylaws.

The Regional District of Mount Waddington and its partners are committed to a future that honours the region’s deep First Nations history and cultural wealth, strengthening bonds between all communities of the North Island. The development of an Interim Housing Needs Report was led by the RDMW and supported by staff from the Planning Department. Details of the report can be found here.