Rental and social housing made up over half of all new approvals for the second year in a row

VANCOUVER City Council approved over 10,800 new housing units in 2022, a record for the second year in a row, and the highest approvals in recent decades, far exceeding its 10-year average.

Housing Vancouver’s 10-year strategy places an emphasis on creating more of the right kind of homes across a broad spectrum of incomes and housing needs.

Homes approved this year include:

• 4,260 new purpose-built market rental units, including 629 new below-market rental units. The highest approvals in several decades and more than double the annual target.
• Over half (56%) of new housing approvals in 2022 were for purpose-built rental or social housing.
• Almost 1,350 units of social and supportive housing, exceeding the annual target by 11%.
• 4,400 new condominiums approved, demonstrating the market is rebounding.

“The City of Vancouver continues to lead the region in new housing approvals, particularly for new rental and social housing developments. These approvals will ensure residents with a wide range of incomes will have homes, including moderate income families, seniors, and newcomers to our city,” said Theresa O’Donnell, Director of Planning and General Manager of Planning, Urban Design, and Sustainability, on Wednesday.

“And while we’re pleased to exceed the targets, we must continue our work to ensure this much needed housing is being built.  More housing supply is needed across the region to keep up with steadily increasing demand, and the City is working hard to do our part.”

The City said that building enough housing to meet demand is still a challenge for a number of reasons, including stubbornly high inflation, supply chain and labor shortages that have caused a number of projects to stall as financing becomes more difficult.  Affordability compounds this supply shortage as many families are priced out of the market by rising mortgage rates and rent prices that continue to increase.

“Our city is starting to head in the right direction on housing,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim. “While there is still more work to be done, we are confident that our efforts to reduce wait times and work more collaboratively with senior levels of government will result in getting more housing built, quickly.”

The Province’s Homes for People Action Plan will invest more than $4 billion over three years – with a commitment to invest $12 billion over the next 10 years to build thousands of new homes. As well, the plan targets new zoning rules, faster permitting, less red tape and more incentives to create more housing.

The Federal Housing Accelerator Fund will invest $4 billion to grow the annual housing supply in the country’s largest cities every year.