Councillors Judy Brownoff and Susan Brice say the government’s policies are disconnected from what is happening in the economy.
Two Saanich councillors want the province to remove housing targets for the municipality, saying the government’s policies are disconnected from what is happening in the economy.
Councillors Judy Brownoff and Susan Brice intend to file a notice of motion at council Monday night, for debate in the middle of March.
They said the factors influencing housing delivery lie outside municipal control, with the economy reeling due to a trade dispute with the U.S. and the province cutting back funding for housing projects.
“The provincial government has backed away from a number of housing commitments,” Brownoff said in an interview.
“And with the economy the way it is, I don’t think it’s fair — how can we make those targets? How can you make us hit a target if you’ve reduced funds and you’ve cancelled projects?”
Included in recent cuts announced by the province is a five-year delay of a $178-million expansion to student housing planned at the University of Victoria. The 510-bed project had been due to be completed in 2029.
“Saanich can approve as many applications as we want, but it doesn’t translate into a developer getting a building permit or even starting a building,” said Brownoff. “It’s all based on the economy at the time. Municipal approvals do not equal construction.”
While the district has been playing catch-up in approving new housing projects over the last three years, Saanich remains behind on the provincially set housing targets.
Over the first two years of the targets, the district provided occupancy permits for only 810 net new homes. By this point, the province had required the district to have hit a target of 1,041 new homes.
By 2028, the district is expected to have built 4,610 net new homes.
Between 2015 and 2024, the district saw an average of just 448 new housing units started each year, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. By comparison, Langford averaged 1,236 units each year for the last decade, and Victoria averaged 864.
Brownoff said council has been doing what it can to meet the targets, but even when Saanich approves projects, their viability ultimately depends on broader economic conditions and the ability of developers to secure financing.
She said when the housing targets were established in 2023, market conditions were more favourable. Now developers are delaying projects or seeking changes to make them more financially feasible.
Last month, Saanich agreed to allow an extra storey and eight extra housing units in a housing development near the Gorge Waterway, rather than lose the project because of difficult economic circumstances.
And last fall, Abstract Developments was granted an extension of its development permit for a 25-unit townhouse project near Swan Lake. It had cited changing market conditions, extra work to redesign a project on a neighbouring site and a fire at one of its building sites on Quadra Street.
Brownoff said cancelling the housing targets is the most fair thing to do.
“It’s not like we’re saying: ‘Cancel your housing legislation. ‘ We’re saying the targets that are in the ministerial order should stop,” she said. “Holding Saanich accountable for targets it cannot reasonably influence is neither practical nor equitable.”
The motion, which will come to council March 16 for debate, will ask Mayor Dean Murdock to write to the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs requesting that the housing targets assigned to the District of Saanich be removed.
