Skip to content

B.C. sets 5-year housing targets for Surrey

City hall expected to provide annual reports to the minister of housing on its progress
220715-snw-m-28956803_web1_20220209-bpd-house-construction-bcg

The provincial government has set a five-year housing target for Surrey with the expectation that 27,256 new homes will be constructed here by June 30, 2029 and that city hall will provide annual reports to the minister of housing on its progress. 

The prescribed targets began July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 with 4,233 homes to be built in that period, 4,639 between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, then 5,248 to be built between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027, then 6,060 more in the period July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2028 and finally 7,076 more new homes between July 1, 2028 and June 30, 2029.


Ron Gill, Surrey's general manager of planning and development, said Surrey has a "substantial number" of homes in various stages of the development approval and construction process.
"Currently, there are over 44,300 units with rezoning conditional approval awaiting construction and over 13,700 units with issued building permits that are at various stages of construction."

That said, Gill added that the timing of their completion mostly depends on developers in order to submit compliant building permits and finalize construction.

"While the City plays an important role in ensuring that permits are processed efficiently, the final construction timeline, after permit issuance, is largely outside of the City’s control," he explained. To help things along, over the past year the City of Surrey initiated more than 25 "major process improvements aimed at accelerating the approval and development of housing projects. These improvements focus on reducing timelines, increasing efficiency, and supporting the
development community in delivering housing more quickly."

Council approved related recommendations contained in a corporate report on Monday, Jan. 27.

Coun. Doug Elford remarked that Surrey is "obviously" performing well. "I've heard other communities aren't quite making their targets. I guess the challenge that frustrates me at times is that we can approve all of the projects we want but it's very challenging to get people to build them, and we really have a need to build, particularly affordable housing in this community and I know we have to do better in that category, we've got to make housing available for people so they can afford to live in our city."

Mayor Brenda Locke said Surrey "is really leading the charge in every single way when it comes to housing and how we build and develop our plans moving forward. This is really incredibly exciting for Surrey, it's remarkable.

"I hope too that the Province on all fronts is looking at the need for more facilities and amenities and all the supports that go around with the build-up of Surrey," she added. "But certainly Surrey is doing its share and then some."



About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
Read more