Census shows more apartments in Metro Vancouver. How does Langley City stack up?

Earlier this year, I posted about the changing housing stock in Langley City. The area of Langley City north of the Nicomekl is in one of the major Regional City Centres as identified in Metro Vancouver’s Regional Growth Strategy. This area has been zoned for higher density for some time. Based on the 2016 census data, only 23% of the housing stock in Langley City is now single-family housing.

Map of Metro Vancouver Urban Centres. Select map to enlarge.

How does Langley City compare to the rest of the region? How does it compare to other communities with similar constrained footprints? The following table was put together by Metro Vancouver staff based on the latest census data.

Trending Shift to Apartment Units in Metro Vancouver. Select chart to enlarge.

White Rock and Langley City both have constrained footprints in the South of Fraser. White Rock is 5 square kilometres while Langley City is 10 square kilometers. Langley City has a higher percentage of apartment units.

The City of North Vancouver is 11 square kilometers —carved out from a larger district municipality with the same name in 1907— and has a higher percentage of its housing units which are apartments than Langley City.

Regional City Centres are meant to be nodes of higher density housing, office space, shops, and services which can be served by high-quality transit. The Langley Regional City Centre is one of the more significant centres as shown on the following table.

Dwelling Unit Growth in Metro Vancouver Urban Centres 2011-2017. Select chart to enlarge. 

The City of North Vancouver has the SeaBus which has enabled its walkable, accessible community focused along Lonsdale. With the introduction of rapid transit along Fraser Highway to Langley City, our community has a similar potential.

For more information, please read Metro Vancouver’s report titled “Metro 2040 Performance Monitoring 2011-2016.”