Langley Township will be looking for undeveloped land along 200 Street in Willoughby to meet the province's housing target – 14,121 new homes in the next five years.
The council approved a Housing Needs Report at its Nov. 14 council meeting. The new reports are mandated by the province every five years as part of Victoria's new legislation that attempts to tackle B.C.'s chronic housing crisis.
Using a mandated provincial formula, the Township has calculated it will require 14,121 new total housing units over the next five years, and a total of 43,039 over the next 20 years.
According to the report, some types of housing needs will have to be met early in the 20-year overall plan, with the first five-year period seeing higher demands than following periods.
For example, more than a third of total demand based on expected population growth – 10,972 homes – is to be built over the next five years, out of a total 20-year expected need of 31,018 homes. More housing for the homeless is also front-loaded into the first five years.
Mayor Eric Woodward was critical of the methodology of the report, which he said was dictated to the Township and other municipalities by the provincial government.
“There was no consultation that I’m aware of in determining this methodology," Woodward said.
He said that the results of using the province's system is to more than double the Township's previous housing target, from 6,200 over five years to more than 14,000, an increase of about 7,800.
According to the Township's report, the Township has seen 8,280 housing starts since 2020, including during the period up to the end of September, 2024, well ahead of the previous five-year target.
After the report was accepted by the Township council, Woodward put forward his own, related motion, calling for Township staff to look at options for pre-zoning more land for infill development in an area along 200 Street, between 72 Avenue in the south and 85 Avenue in the north. According to Woodward's motion, that will be done "to meet the housing target of an additional 7,800 housing units, as now required due to the arbitrary mandated methodology from the province of British Columbia.”
Woodward noted that municipalities can only do so much to get housing built. They can approve developments and building permits, but they don't actually build homes.
He also noted that Langley Township has already been growing at an extraordinary rate in recent years.
“The challenge that we’re having with the provincial government is no recognition that the Township of Langley is already one of the fastest growing municipalities in the province and in the country," Woodward said.
The area of potential infill mentioned by Woodward's motion is the same area the Township has been looking at for increased density and transit-oriented housing already, through its 200 Street 2040 plans.
TransLink is hoping to create a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line up and down 200 Street from Langley City all the way across the Golden Ears Bridge and into Maple Ridge.
That would allow people living close to the corridor a relatively fast alternative transit option that will eventually connect with the SkyTrain line when it arrives in Langley, currently scheduled for 2029.
Council approved Woodward's motion unanimously.
