Port Moody lags behind province’s housing targets despite thousands of units approved

Port Moody is rapidly approving new housing units, but construction delays and demolitions make staff doubtful the city will meet the minimum housing targets over the next five years.

On Nov. 12, staff presented its annual report to council related to housing mandates imposed on the city by recent provincial legislation.

Liam McLellan, a municipal social planner, said unless there’s a significant uptick of projects beginning construction in the next two years, the five-year targets are likely out of reach.

“There are not enough units that are construction ready,” McLellan said. “The 20-year target is more achievable, but still requires a consistent number of units to be constructed every year.”

Port Moody was part of the first cohort of B.C. municipalities to have housing targets mandated through the province’s Housing Supply Act in November 2023.

By 2028, the city is expected to have a minimum of 1,694 new units receive occupancy. It is currently on track to reach 1,450 units. 

If a city falls short of the target, the province has the ability to appoint advisors, and – as a last resort – force bylaw changes and permit approvals.

Port Moody’s progress, however, is not hampered by a lack of approvals.

The city currently has 18 developments greenlit, totalling 6,325 units, counting applications given rezoning approval, or development and building permits.

This is a significant increase over the 3,747 approved-unit count back in May, mostly due to Wesgroup’s Coronation Park project receiving permits.

Most of the larger approved projects, however – including Coronation Park, Westport Village, Portwood Apartments – have significant build-out times, measured in decades.

Another 14 developments, totalling 2,905 units, have submitted applications but have not received approval. 

McLellan said staff assume the majority will be completed outside the five-year window. He noted it typically takes two to three years for a project to complete construction, and stressed numerous uncertainties will likely delay rather than expedite the process.

Adding to the construction-timeline problem, is an increased rate of residential demolitions, averaging 80 to 90 units annually, McLellan said.

For its one-year target, Port Moody was expected to add 231 units to its housing stock. While it was able to complete 264 units, the 96 single-family homes demolished to make way for Coronation Park took the net total down to 168.

Staff were initially optimistic of hitting the 2024 target, but completion delays to a 162-unit project further slowed the city’s progress. 

Coun. Diana Dilworth said Port Moody is not the only municipality lagging behind of the five-year target, adding the 20-year target is more realistic.

If the 9,230 units currently in stream were all approved and constructed, the city would be just 7 percent shy of the province’s estimate for the city’s 20-year housing need.

While Dilworth said there is fear around the pace of development in the city, she said many projects will not get built due to increased challenges related to financing, increased fees, labour and material costs.

She said there are thousands of new homes that have received final approvals across Metro Vancouver, which are not moving forward to the construction phase due to these issues.

“We know that many, many, many of those new homes will never be built,” Dilworth said. “I have no fear about drastic overbuilding.”

Coronation Park is not expected to be fully completed until 2039, Portwood Apartments won’t be completed until 2036, Dilworth said, adding these timelines might be even longer.

Mary De Paoli, manager of public policy, added there are several projects in Port Moody which have stagnated at the permit stage for at least five years. She said even Westport Village, a 500-unit, 31-storey tower project approved in July 2023, is “questionable at this point.”

Coun. Haven Lurbiecki, however, took the opposite interpretation, stating that the city was “over approving” and on course for “massive overdevelopment.”

She said the report shows that Port Moody needs to start “balancing” the development with employment areas, park space, and family-oriented housing.

“There’s just no way to spin these numbers,” she said. “We’ve already hit our 20 year need in terms of the number of units.”