City Council to receive Housing Needs Report tonight

Prince Rupert City Council members will get their first opportunity to comment on a wide ranging review of the challenges towards housing in the community tonight, as City staff present the 85 page report compiled by staff and private sector consultants City Spaces.

The City had put out request for Proposals for the Report back in March of this year, with City Spaces, which has offices in Vancouver and Victoria  selected as the successful applicant .

The project which had a timeline of eight months from May to December of this year will offer City Council and staff a better understanding of the city's housing needs and gaps, as well as to outline opportunities and focus areas for future development decisions and policy impact.

The Housing Needs Report is a document that fulfills the legislative requirements that are outlined in the Local Government Act  and analyzed a range of data and trends to reach its conclusions.

As the Introduction notes, the report included engagement with local First Nations, social service organizations, non-profit housing providers, developers, and local government representatives. These opportunities provided the project team with valuable feedback to help inform key findings identified in this Report. 

The deeper you get into the report the more minute the details are towards the challenges ahead towards housing in the community, however the Executive Summary provided for a helpful synopsis of the key findings from the eight month review.

Some of the major themes explored the recent limited growth experienced for the city when it comes to its housing stock, expectations of significant population growth ahead, along with some of the challenges towards housing development that contributed to city's current predicament.

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The Report notes of the Official Community Plan adopted in May of 2021,  which now serves as the main focus for the city's approach towards housing development, noting of the measures currently in place and some of those that have yet to be fully introduced, such as the establishment of a housing commission, agency or corporation  or to establish partnerships to generate more resources to name a few.

One section of many for note from  the review of Housing Need Summary statements, those which provide a snapshot when it comes to affordable housing, rental housing, Special Needs housing, Seniors Housing, Housing for families and single residents as well as additional Shelter housing for those most in need. 

The closing comments tie the full package together, offering up recommendations towards how to address the many challenges ahead, including the need to explore ways to incentivize new construction as well as the potential of further partnerships with First Nations towards a collaborative approach to housing solutions.

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The document also offers up a snapshot of where the state of housing options for Prince Rupert is at, that as of the report's delivery period. 

It offers up a compilation of data related to rentals, sales of homes and the city's Housing targets moving forward. 

The full report can be reviewed from the City's Agenda Package for tonight's session, found on page.

Community resident's will find out what the Council members think about the review, should they have any contributions to make to the topic, following the report's introduction tonight.

More notes on tonight's Council Session can be reviewed from our Council Preview feature.

Some past notes on Housing in Prince Rupert can be explored through our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.