A municipal spokesperson says inconsistencies in reporting the types of new units built in Delta during the first year under a provincial housing order stem from having to manually tally the data due to how the city's computer system is designed.
Under a ministerial order that came into effect on Oct. 1, 2023, the city is obliged to add 3,607 net new housing units (completed homes, as measured by occupancy permits issued minus any units demolished) by Sept. 30, 2028. The target represents 75 per cent of the identified housing need in Delta.
The order also sets annual cumulative benchmarks the city must meet along the way and requires the city report on its progress. Delta was required to add 514 net new units by the end of September.
As reported in the Oct. 24 issue of this paper, the City of Delta exceeded its first provincially-mandated housing target, adding 561 net new units between Oct. 1, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024.
The reporting form the city is submitting to the Housing Targets Branch of B.C.’s Ministry of Housing, which was included with a staff report to council on Oct. 21, says 687 units were completed over the first year of the housing order, while 126 were demolished.
Provincial guidelines accompanying Delta’s housing order say the bulk of the net new units built by Sept. 30, 2028 should be studio or one-bedroom (2,021). Another 682 units should be two-bedroom, and 904 three bedrooms or more.
As well, more than half of the new units (2,030) must be rentals — 830 let at below-market rates, and 95 designated as supportive rental units.
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The reporting form submitted by the city also breaks down the new units by type, tenure and rental affordability; however, those figures did not match either the gross or net new units being reported.
By type, the city says it added five studio, 221 one-bedroom, 180 two-bedroom, 79 three-bedroom, and 172 four-or-more-bedroom units. Curiously, that adds up to 657 units, 30 fewer than the gross number of units the city says were completed and 96 more than the net new units being reported.
The North Delta Reporter reached out to the city to ask about the apparent discrepancy, but did not hear back before the paper's press deadline on Wednesday, Oct. 23.
By tenure, the city says it added 299 “owned” units and 357 rentals, 130 of which were purpose built, 226 of which were secondary suites, and one which was an accessory dwelling (like a carriage house or garden suite).
Here, too, the numbers do not seem to align with those listed elsewhere on the form: 299 plus 357 equals 656, one less than the number listed by type and also out of step with the completions and net total being reported.
The Reporter also reached out to the city to ask about this apparent discrepancy, but did not hear back by the paper’s press deadline.
Of the 357 rentals being reported, 227 are listed as market units, while 130 are below-market dwellings. No below-market rental units with on-site supports were completed during the reporting period.
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After a follow-up request for information, an unnamed city spokesperson did provide an explanation for the above noted discrepancies on Friday, Nov 1, essentially chalking them up to human error.
"The additional figures provided are supplemental information. These are pulled from our software and manually totalled, as our municipal software system was not designed to calculate information of this granularity," the unnamed spokesperson wrote in their email to the Reporter.
"As a result, these figures have a higher margin of error and are useful to give a big picture understanding of proportions and direction of progress, rather than a precise total of where we are at when the figures were calculated."
They went on to say that most municipalities are facing a similar challenge as they, like Delta, "do not have systems designed to track the kind of data the province is requesting."
"Currently, Delta is working with a consultant to develop a dashboard that will make the process easier, more reliable and more consistent for future reports."
The spokesperson underlined that the gross number of completions, total demolitions and net new units are all accurate.
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