Tracking Langley City’s One-Year Provincial Housing Order Target and Guidance

Like most urban municipalities in BC, Langley City has a provincial housing order from the Minister of Housing, which sets out the minimum number of housing units the provincial government wants to see built in each municipality over the five-year period from 2024 to 2029.

Langley City’s housing order cumulative targets are:
251 units in 2024-25
541 units in 2025-26
890 units in 2026-27
1,318 units in 2027-28
1,844 units in 2028-29

By July 31, 2029, the provincial government expects at least 1,844 units of net new housing to be built in Langley City. The type of units does not matter for this target number. The goal of the housing order is to ensure that municipalities have plans, policies, and approval processes that support the construction of these new units. If a municipality fails to meet its target, the provincial government may intervene.

Of course, there are other forces at play that impact housing construction, such as financing costs, material costs, and labour, which municipalities have no control over. For example, I’ve noticed a slowdown in new housing applications in Langley City this year, which is due to financing and construction costs outside of the City’s control.

Langley City must report annually to the provincial government on the target housing order. For the reporting period from August 1, 2024, through July 31, 2025, 533 net new units of housing were completed and ready for occupancy. This number exceeds our year-one provincial order.

The provincial government also set up what they estimate the bedroom count, tenure, and affordability type should be between 2024 and 2029. The following table shows how the net-new housing in the City is tracking to the 5-year guidance.

	Year One Completions	Five Year Guidance	Percentage Achieved
Studio	56	598	9%
One Bedroom	320	389	82%
Two Bedroom	146	348	42%
Three or More Bedroom	11	508	2%
Total Rental	333	810	41%
Total Owned	200	1034	19%
Total Below Market Rental	0	420	0%
Total Supportive Housing	0	23	0%

While the number of three- or more-bedroom units was low during this reporting period, I expect it to increase as more townhouses and ‘plexes complete construction. Additionally, the upcoming BC Builds project and expansion of the Langley Lions Housing facility will deliver meaningful units at below-market rent (both of which are provincially funded.)

While Langley City is working on minimum below market rental and 3-bedroom unit requirements, which would apply to new housing construction projects, it won’t deliver the number of affordable units the province would like to see. Building a significant number of affordable units will require targeted funding from the provincial and federal governments.

As a note, supportive housing is for people who are experiencing homelessness as a way to transition from living rough to living independently. Also, the studio units guidance of 598 can be either studio or one-bedroom units.