The City of Delta, in its current budget consultations, is asking for resident feedback on several goals and priorities including building housing and growing sustainably.
The city is also highlighting work done so far, including the update to the Official Community Plan (OCP) and approving nearly 1,000 new units in 2024.
As far as where the city is headed, it’s aligning infrastructure with housing growth, while increasing permits for net new housing units to meet Delta’s housing target given by the province.
A recent update to council notes an interim housing needs assessment, also a requirement by the province, requires Delta to add several more factors to the city’s existing 2020 Housing Needs Report, including the number of housing units required to meet current and anticipated housing need for the next five years and 20 years using an online calculator tool.
The Housing Needs Report Calculator is an online tool developed by the University B.C., which is compliant with the province’s methods.
The report notes that the five-year need identified in the city’s interim housing needs assessment is significantly higher than the five-year need identified by the province when setting Delta’s housing target, but both numbers are valuable.
Delta identified the city requiring 9,788 units from August 2024 to August 2029.
Meanwhile, the city has also identified needing 29,457 new units over a 20-year period.
The housing needs assessment also includes “additional local demand”, a new variable that is not included in the province’s housing target order setting.
Additional local demand is determined through a demand factor, the report explains, noting Delta was assigned the second highest demand factor, excluding outliers, in Metro Vancouver.
A demand factor is a multiplier based on a ratio of housing price to housing density, meaning Delta has relatively high house prices and low density, which compounds housing need, the report notes.
“The demand factor is intended to better account for additional housing units needed to create healthy market conditions, to accommodate additional demand from households who are looking to move to Delta, such as growing families looking for larger homes,” the report adds.
