Housing
The Issue
Provincial small-scale multi-unit housing requirements determine what Esquimalt must permit on many residential properties. They do not determine which projects will be built or whether the resulting homes will meet local needs. Simply allowing more units and hoping for the best is not a housing strategy.
My Position
Council must work within provincial requirements, but it should not pretend it has no influence over the result. Esquimalt should use the tools that remain available to encourage thoughtful design and the housing choices residents need.
What Council Can Do
Council can establish clear zoning and design expectations, improve approval processes, plan municipal servicing and consider lawful incentives that make desired housing outcomes easier to deliver.
What I Would Advocate For
Identify the housing Esquimalt is missing, then examine faster approvals, clearer requirements, municipal partnerships and lawful fee or density incentives where they can produce those outcomes. Incentives should be tied to a defined public benefit and evaluated against actual results.
Costs and Consequences
Incentives can reduce municipal revenue or create future servicing costs if they are poorly designed. Every proposal should identify the benefit, cost, funding source and method for measuring whether it worked.
Questions That Still Need Answers
What housing types are not being produced under the current rules? Which barriers are within municipal control? What would each incentive cost, and what public benefit would residents receive in return?
Sources and Further Reading
Local Rules and Evidence
Province of BC: Small-scale multi-unit housing
The provincial requirements municipalities must implement.
Township of Esquimalt: Small-scale multi-unit housing
Esquimalt’s current zoning, eligibility and development-permit requirements.
Province of BC: Housing planning for local governments
Municipal zoning, housing agreements, density benefits and measures supporting affordable and special-needs housing.
Province of BC: New local-government housing tools
Provincial guidance on inclusionary zoning, density benefits and related housing tools.
BC Local Government Act, sections 481.3–483
The legislation governing required housing permissions, density benefits and housing agreements.
Ideas Worth Examining
City of Edmonton: Standardized designs and expedited permitting
Edmonton is developing standardized missing-middle designs with an expedited permitting route.
City of Kelowna: Infill Challenge Design Competition
Kelowna invited better infill designs, used winning concepts to inform zoning and connected approved designs with faster processing.
City of Kelowna: Infill Fast-Track
A practical example of rewarding qualifying infill projects with greater certainty and faster approvals.
Kelowna’s approach is especially relevant: identify the design outcomes the community wants, develop models suited to local lots and neighbourhoods, and make those models easier and faster to build.
CONNECTED DECISIONS
Connected Decisions
No major community decision happens in isolation.
Housing
How new homes fit the community and what they require.
Community Plan
Where housing fits, how neighbourhoods connect and what natural and public spaces are protected.
Growth
What infrastructure and public services development requires, and who pays for them.
Spending
What a decision costs today, how it is funded and what obligations follow.
Ask Holly About This
Have a question or perspective to share? Please get in touch.