Troubling trends for Tri-Cities affordability highlighted in housing report

Rents in the Tri-Cities do not appear to be trending towards affordability, according to a recent Metro Vancouver housing report.

In the last five years, the number of local households on the waitlist for social housing has grown by 74.7 percent in Port Coquitlam, 72 percent in Coquitlam, and 66.3 percent in Port Moody.

“Geographically, outlying municipalities saw the fastest growth,” according to the report. “Demand for social housing has grown much faster than the rate of population growth, serving as one indicator of the unmet housing need in the region.”

The Metro Vancouver Regional Planning Committee released their Housing Data Book at the end of 2023, providing a snapshot of current housing stock, construction and housing needs.

It shows some troubling signs for the future of affordable housing in the Tri-Cities.

Waitlists in the Tri-Cities have outpaced the significant growth on waitlists across Metro Vancouver, where the median increase was 53.5 percent. Together, residents of the Tri-Cities make up 9.4 percent of the 18,865 households on BC Social Housing Waitlist.

Additionally, 16.7 percent of all Coquitlam households, 13.1 percent of Port Coquitlam households, and 10.8 percent of Port Moody households are categorized as in a “core housing need.”

The category is defined by households spending more than 30 percent of their income on shelter, by living in units without enough bedrooms, or living in a home that is often in need of repairs. 

Renters continued to make up the majority in this category, and median rents have outpaced both inflation and average wages across the region.

From 2012 to 2022, the median monthly cost in purpose-built rentals has increased 63.7 percent in Coquitlam, 133.3 percent in Port Coquitlam, and 48.2 percent in Port Moody.

Vacancy rates for Coquitlam (0.5 percent) and Port Coquitlam (0.4 percent) in 2022 were well below the regional average (0.9 percent), which in itself is well below what is considered economically healthy for a housing market.

As of 2023, Coquitlam and Port Moody had some of the lowest supply of non-market housing units in the region, accounting for only 2 percent and 1.5 percent of total dwelling units, respectively.

Meanwhile, homelessness in the Tri-Cities has risen by 86 percent in the last three years, according to the Greater Vancouver’s 2023 Point-in-Time Homeless Count.

Purpose-built rentals needed

Metro Vancouver’s affordable housing strategy has prioritized the construction of purpose-built rental to combat the rising costs of housing.

For almost an entire decade in the early 2000s, rental starts and completions were well below 10 percent of total housing starts, causing “pent-up demand,” according to the report.

Although rental construction has increased in recent years, it is still not keeping pace with historical per capita levels and expected population growth.

“The per capita construction rate decreased significantly in the 1990s and has yet to recover to the levels seen during the 1970s,” the report stated. “Rental construction is at a 20-year high, but it is still not high enough.”

In 2022, rental construction accounted for 38 percent of the total housing starts and 28 percent of housing completions across Metro Vancouver.

There has been a heavy focus on the part of municipalities in Tri-Cities to build multi-unit structures, outpacing the regional average.

From 2018 to 2022, multi-unit housing starts accounted for an average of 92.4 percent of all housing starts in Coquitlam, 87.3 percent in Port Coquitlam, and 96.9 percent in Port Moody.

Coquitlam is noted in the report as having seen the greatest increase in housing starts out of the entire region between 2021 and 2022, growing from 2,351 to 3,608 starts.

However, the report noted that while there has been some recent growth, very few new purpose-built rentals have been built in the region over the last two decades.

Strata condos – often rented out at significantly higher rents, with less security and renter protections for tenants – still dominate the rental market.

They represent more than half of the all annual housing starts in Metro Vancouver since 2003, according to the report (with the exception of 2009, following the economic downturn).

From 2018 to 2022, construction of purpose-built rental units accounted for only 25.9 percent of housing starts in Coquitlam, 22.5 percent in Port Coquitlam and 23 percent in Port Moody.

In 2022, Port Moody’s purpose-built housing starts was one of the lowest in the region, amounting for 3.4 percent of all new construction.

Compared to other Metro Vancouver municipalities, the Tri-Cities have a low amount of purpose-built rentals in relation to other housing stock.

Renters occupy 30.7 percent of Coquitlam’s total housing units, 22.9 percent of Port Coquitlam’s, 24.5 percent of Port Moody’s.

Purpose-built rental units amount for 6.4 percent of Coquitlam’s total housing stock, 4.4 percent of Port Coquitlam’s, and 6.3 of Port Moody’s.

Approximately 20 percent of purpose-built rental stock in the Tri-Cities was built prior to 1970, and more than half dates back more than three decades.

This could signal that demolitions are on the horizon, which, especially in the case of rental housing, can result in the loss of needed affordable units as older buildings are redeveloped.

Coquitlam had the highest percentage of demolitions as a percentage of its total housing stock in 2021, destroying 525 units, the vast majority being apartments.

The city saw a net loss of its purpose-built rental stock by 6.8 percent between 2013 and 2022. In the same timeframe, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody grew their purpose-built rental inventory by 107.7 percent and 74.5 percent, respectively.