New West Progressives understand that if we want to maintain our city as a family-friendly place to live, we need to ensure we do everything within our jurisdiction to support the development and retention of affordable housing. We recognize the lack of affordable housing as a crisis in our city that is only compounding and increasing the risk of becoming unhoused; as such it will be responded to in that manner. As a team, we commit to:
Reducing Approval Times
- Establishing key performance measurement targets for the effective and efficient issuance of development permits. This will include a senior management accountability framework to ensure we meet our targets.
- Reducing parking requirements in “transit-oriented” developments in exchange for the development of long-term below market housing or an identified community public amenity.
- Streamline permitting times and facilitate more affordable housing options by establishing up to 15 pre-approved designs that will reduce construction costs for the homeowner and city taxpayers. This will be modelled after similar programs for laneway housing developments.
Building Affordable Housing
- To support and fast-track the construction of at least 1,500 non-market or lower-end-of-market family-friendly rental units by 2028, we will make city-owned properties available for partnership with senior levels of government who wish to build this type of affordable housing.
- Taking the best and most successful policy ideas and actions from around British Columbia, we will not ‘recreate the wheel’. We will implement innovative policies and actions that increase access to affordable housing.
- To help reduce the number of spot rezonings and facilitate the creation of affordable housing, we will direct staff to prepare a by-law, similar to Victoria, that will support the pre-approval, fast-tracking and reduction of red tape for the development of non-profit housing that fully conforms with our Official Community Plan (OCP).
Increasing Supply
- To encourage more secondary suites and recognize the important role they play in the creation of affordable housing and ‘gentle densification’, we will freeze non-metered utility fees for single family homeowners with secondary suites.
- Facilitate the development of at least 25% more secondary suites and laneway houses by 2026 by exploring new and simplified approval – while also factoring in the important need for local access to parking spaces.
Providing More Choices
- Providing more housing options for New Westminster families through the development of a bold action plan that will facilitate the overall number of ‘missing middle’ i.e. duplex, fourplex and townhouse units approved for development by at least 40% by 2030. This strategy will place a priority on developing individually owned (fee simple) townhouses for those who don’t want to deal with a strata council.
- Explore every option possible to implement the “15 minute city” model where a greater percentage of people living in New Westminster have access to essential urban services within a 15 minute walk or bike ride.
Helping the Unhoused and Those at Risk of Joining Them
- Ensure New Westminster works with the Province of BC and the Government of Canada to provide funding to support the establishment of temporary and appropriately placed shelter spaces for our identified unhoused residents.
- Committing to support existing policies that limit the stratification of existing rental housing stock.
- Switch from a “Housing First” model to a “Not Just Housing” model to ensure the unhoused have adequate wrap around services.
- Advocate with other Metro Vancouver cities to ‘do their share’ when it comes to providing adequate temporary and permanent housing for the unhoused
Read our News Release HERE.