West Kelowna, Kamloops fall behind BC government's 'unrealistic' housing targets
Both West Kelowna and Kamloops are failing to meet the province's housing targets, and politicians at the Okanagan city are frustrated.
West Kelowna built 64 net new housing units over the past six months, and the BC government expects the city to build a total of 289 this year, council heard at its meeting Tuesday, March 11.
Councillor Stephen Johnston called the housing target is unrealistic.
“I struggle with the housing targets I have for a while because I feel like if we're delivered unrealistic goals, it's going to be difficult to meet that expectation. And so I hope the province is understanding with that because I certainly don't want to see our municipality penalized in any fashion,” Johnston said.
Kamloops built 449 net new housing units out of its 679 target, but Kelowna managed to exceed its target of 1,363 by building 1,501 units.
When it comes down to why West Kelowna missed the mark while across the bridge Kelowna succeeded, West Kelowna’s city councillors had several explanations.
READ MORE: Kelowna surpassed provincial housing targets in 2024
Some of the problem stems from the fact that the target measures net new housing, which means that although 100 units were built, there were 36 that had to be demolished so those demolitions subtract from the total new housing number to get the number of net new units.
West Kelowna has been mandated to build 2,266 net new units by the end of July 2029.
Councillor Jason Friesen brought up the issue of how Westbank First Nation is intertwined with West Kelowna so when large development happens on reserve land it deters developers and doesn’t go towards the province’s housing targets for the city.
“Ultimately as a community, if the market is saturated and it all happens to occur within Westbank First Nation, developers aren't going to build within West Kelowna proper,” Friesen said.
West Kelowna recently turned down a 117-unit development because of a lack of infrastructure to service it.
READ MORE: Kamloops lags behind provincial housing targets
“When we grow as a community, it's not just about ramming housing into every nook and cranny that's available. We want to do so intentionally. We want to make sure we're upgrading infrastructure at a rate that supports that growth. And that takes time and it takes money and it takes time to build the capital to be able to get these projects done as we have seen,” Johnston said.
West Kelowna Mayor Gord Milsom said his city needs more funding from the province to get the infrastructure in place to hit the housing targets.
“We need to continue to advocate for some assistance for... monies from the province to help pay for this infrastructure, because I believe we're doing what we can, we're setting the foundation in a very good way,” the mayor said.
Cities like Kamloops and West Kelowna that fail to meet the housing targets laid out by the province face uncertain consequences.
The Ministry of Housing could appoint an advisor who would review a city's bylaws and processes to push the council to green light more housing, or the province could issue an order to try to force the city to build more housing.
Kamloops city councillor Margot Middleton called the consequences a "heavy hammer" approach at a council meeting in November last year, adding the "ominous threats of fines and penalties" means little until the five-year deadline hits.
"This whole thing could all change. In a couple years they could review their policy and find that was unrealistic," Middleton said.
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