The City of Pitt Meadows is receiving a $30,000 provincial grant to assess and report on local housing needs.
It is one of 26 communities in B.C. to receive funding as part of the Housing Needs Report Program.
City chief administrative officer Mark Roberts said the money will help provide a very important tool to plan for housing gaps within Pitt Meadows.
“It will help us determine the gaps and the needs for community housing,” he said.
“Once the assessment is complete we’ll update our [official community plan] with the information we gained through this report.”
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The funds would go towards the hiring of a consultant, who would come up with an assessment report, which the city would use to guide them when updating the OCP.
The City of Pitt Meadows will receive 50 per cent of the grant funding up front and the remaining 50 per cent once it completes final reporting to Union of British Columbia Municipalities, which administers the program.
The province has identified these housing needs reports as another tool to help it work with local governments and other partners to build 114,000 new affordable homes throughout B.C. by 2028.
Minister of Municipal Affairs, Josie Osborne, said local governments and First Nations play a critical role in addressing the housing crisis.
“The impacts of COVID-19 on people and communities have reinforced just how important it is to support them in their efforts,” she said.
“This funding will help communities determine exactly what kind of housing people need and will support healthy and resilient communities across B.C. well into the future.”
Funding recipients are from the third intake of the Housing Needs Report Program.
In 2018, the Province committed $5 million over three years (2019-21) to help local governments collect and analyze housing-related data from their communities.
While First Nations have also been included in regional district housing needs reports, in 2020, the Province expanded program eligibility to B.C.’s eight Treaty First Nations. Nisga’a Lisims Government and Tsawwassen First Nation are two of the successful applicants from the third intake and will receive funding to develop their own housing needs reports.
Since the Housing Needs Report program started, a total of 138 local governments and two Treaty First Nations in B.C. have received funding to help them assess their communities’ housing needs. Under the housing needs report legislation, all local governments must produce their first housing needs report by April 2022 and every five years after that.
ronan.p.odoherty@blackpress.ca
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