Kelowna year ahead of province's push for more homes to be built
A year into the province’s push to get cities to build more homes, Kelowna is already a year ahead.
The City of Kelowna’s housing target report said there were 3,467 new homes built in the city since June 2024. The target set out by the province last year was 1,363 for this year and 2,856 for next year, so the city is well ahead of the curve.
Of the new homes built, 1,637 new units were rentals at market price and there were 170 new affordable units. The rest of the new housing units, 1,660, are owned properties.
The provincial target is to have 8,774 new units by 2030.
The city turned down just three applications for a total of 268 units, and it approved 257 applications.
Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Kelowna has gone down by seven per cent over the past year to $1,893, according to recent data from Rentals.ca.
Kelowna’s vacancy rate is at 4.5 per cent, according to the City of Kelowna. The vacancy rate was 1.7 per cent this time last year.
Most of the new units were one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, with 687 studios and 470 three-bedroom units.
City council is going to receive the provincial housing target report at its the meeting on Monday, Aug. 11 before it gets forwarded to the provincial government.
Kelowna is one of 30 municipalities around the province that have been given a five-year housing target by the province.
West Kelowna and Kamloops have struggled to meet the targets set out by the province.
West Kelowna built 64 net new housing units between November and March this year and its target for the year is 289. West Kelowna's city council has been pushing back against the targets and said there are consequences for approving too many projects too quickly.
Kamloops built 449 net new housing units out of its 679 target as of the last reporting period.
Cities that don’t meet the housing target could face consequences from the province, but they aren’t set in stone.
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.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. Find our Journalism Ethics policy here.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.
