In an update out of municipal hall Tuesday, Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy professes the city is making "significant progress" on more than two dozen initiatives to address local housing needs and meet provincial targets.
“The City of Maple Ridge is taking bold steps to address our community’s housing needs and ensure a seamless and transparent development process,” said Ruimy, when announcing the city is on track to meet the province’s target of 612 new homes in Maple Ridge by June 30 of this year.
He said all that is happening, while the city council and staff are actively working on various policy and procedural changes to make it easier and faster to introduce even more housing.
The province issued a housing target order for Maple Ridge last June, setting out annual benchmarks as part of a five-year target of 3,954 new homes by June 30, 2029.
Maple Ridge is one of 30 B.C. communities with a housing target to address the region's critical housing needs.
“We’re demonstrating our commitment to achieving housing affordability through more supply that will support a livable, vibrant, and inclusive community where everyone can thrive," he said, adding that he's proud of the progress made so far and look forward to building on that momentum.
According to the city report presented to council earlier this month, they have 376 "net new" homes (400 built minus 24 demolished – representing 61 per cent of the first-year target in the first six months). And in the pipeline, the report indicates more than 150 rezoning applications (representing more than 400 residential building permit applications) are being processed.
The report, explained Ruimy, is now being submitted to the province, with notes outlining a series of other steps being taken to improve the community's housing supply, diversity, and affordability.
He pointed to the council's strategic plan, listing some steps already in progress such as zoning and policy updates. Ruimy also noted several other efforts are underway. The city, for instance, is rolling out their new concierge service to guide building applications through the process, fast tracking approvals, introducing application turnaround transparency, creating an interactive housing map, developing pre-approved site plan process, and more.
