Langley City and the Updated Metro Vancouver Housing Data Book

The Metro Vancouver Regional District recently released an update to its Housing Data Book, which provides a wide range of statistics about housing in our region. I wanted to look at some of the updated data.

Langley City continued to punch above its weight regarding BC Housing's non-market (subsidized) housing. BC Housing funds 6.3% of the total housing units in Langley City. Only the City of Vancouver has a higher percentage at 7.6%.

BC Housing Non-Market Housing Units (2024) as Percentage of Total Dwellings (2021 Census), Metro Vancouver

Looking further into the data, Langley and Delta have seen the fastest growth in people on the BC Housing registry. The number of non-market housing units likely needs to double region-wide, including in Langley, to help reduce the waitlist.

Growth of the BC Housing Registry (2020 to 2024) and Total Households

There is also below-market rental housing, which isn't funded by BC Housing and isn't reflected in this data.

Another interesting statistic is that Langley City has the most urban redevelopment profile of any municipality in Metro Vancouver. 98% of housing units built between 2020 and 2024 were apartments or townhomes/rowhomes. Langley City lags behind other municipalities with the construction of new purpose-built rental housing.

Multi-Unit Housing Starts as Percentage of Total Housing Starts, 2020 to 2024 (Five-Year Average), Metro Vancouver

For more information, please look at the Metro Vancouver Housing Data Book.

DASH - A Regional Approach to Speeding Up Housing Construction

Langley City is one of 11 municipalities partnering with the Metro Vancouver Regional District on its DASH - Digitally Accelerated Standardized Housing project, which is looking at ways to speed up housing construction in Metro Vancouver.

The DASH Program transformation. Selection the image to enlarge.

The initiative has three primary areas of focus to speed up housing construction: rezoning processes, municipal regulations, and off-site (modular) construction.

The first area they prepared a report on was municipal regulations. They found that all 11 municipalities that are participating have slightly different regulations when it comes to zoning that would accommodate a simple six-storey apartment building. Standardizing these regulations would enable more straightforward off-site construction, reducing design complexity and cost while increasing speed.

The proposed zoning regulation changes are simple, for example, looking at standardized heights and setbacks.

The report also looks at standardized development permit regulations, which include pedestrian access, landscaping, exterior design, building cladding, and amenity areas.

As a region, we have worked together to streamline processes such as inter-municipal business licensing and region-wide ride-hail services licensing. I'm confident we can also standardize zoning to enable off-site, modular construction of wood-frame apartments. I look forward to seeing further recommendations from the DASH project and working toward implementing these recommendations region-wide.

Please read the April 3rd Metro Vancouver Regional Planning Committee agenda for more information.

New Policy to Prevent Parkade Construction Cave-Ins

Until December 2022, I'd never heard of a parkade under construction in Langley City having a cave-in or partial cave-in during construction. In December 2022 and August 2024, the construction shoring at two different sites failed.

As I posted in November, Langley City implemented a practice of having independent reviews of the geotechnical design for underground parkades. Last night, Langley City Council adopted a new "CO-87 - Excavation and Shoring Policy."

This policy makes the new practice of having an independent review of geotechnical design a requirement for all proposed excavations with 3 metres or greater depth. It also reserves the right for the City to request an independent review for any excavations.

While this might seem like the City is adding red tape, the safety of our community and workers is paramount. This policy will help improve underground parkades' safety and other underground construction.

Metro Vancouver Housing Supply Challenge Started in the 1990s

Everyone knows that there is a housing shortage in Metro Vancouver. All municipalities now have provincially mandated housing needs reports. I posted about Langley City's report in December.

The Metro Vancouver Regional District recently completed a Regional Housing Needs Report. There were a few things that stood out to me.

One thing is that this housing shortage we find ourselves in today, while certainly exacerbated in the last few years, really started back in the early 1990s. This period is when governments were cutting funding to housing programs. Interestingly, it was also in the early 1990s when the province started the process of shutting down Riverview Hospital without providing adequate facilities in other locations. Decisions made in the past (good and bad) can impact people for generations.

Metro Vancouver Housing Completions per 1,000 Population, (1970 to 2024) and Required Level of Completions to Meet 20-Year Housing Need (2022 to 2041). Select chart to enlarge.

Region-wide, we need to increase yearly housing completions by 22,668. We need to double the current rate in the South of Fraser - East (where Langley City is located). The following chart shows the sub-regional breakdown.

Estimated Annual Shortfall in Housing Completions, Metro Vancouver Sub-Regions, 2022 to 2026. Select chart to enlarge.

Regional District staff made the following overall observations:

• Housing development levels must double to address regional housing pressures.
• The federal and provincial governments must significantly increase their loan and funding programs to build more affordable rental housing.
• Overall, we need more purpose-built rental housing.

Certainly, municipal governments have taken our lumps for being a barrier to getting housing built (some deserved and others not), though we will continue to need to invest in ways to build housing more efficiently to meet the growing demand, such as modular construction.

Please read the April 3 Metro Vancouver Regional Planning Committee agenda for more information.