REQUEST FOR DIRECTION
DATE: November 3, 2020 Report No. DEV-20-076
TO: Laurie Hurst, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Bill Brown, Director of Development Services
SUBJECT:
Title
Review of the Draft Housing Needs Report
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ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
Does Council have any concerns with the information and analysis provided in the Draft Housing Needs Report attached as an Appendix B to Staff Report DEV-20-076?
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That the Committee of the Whole provide staff with any concerns that they may have with the draft Housing Needs Report and instruct staff to present the revised Report to Council for receipt pursuant to Section 585.31 of the Local Government Act.
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BACKGROUND:
In 2018, the provincial government amended the Local Government Act by adding Division 22 (Housing Needs Reports) to Part 14 of the Act. This amendment, along with the concomitant Housing Needs Report Regulation (Appendix "A"), prescribes the data that must be collected and the content of a Housing Needs Report. All Local Governments, unless they are exempted, must complete a Housing Needs Report by April 2022, and then every five years thereafter. In effort to save time and money, the Capital Regional District (CRD) submitted a funding application to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) for a district grant that would cover the expenses for completing the Housing Needs Reports for 11 of the local governments in the CRD, including the Township of Esquimalt. The CRD's grant application was successful and they received a grant from the UBCM. This grant covered the cost of hiring a consultant to prepare the 11 Housing Needs Reports for the participating municipalities. Other than staff time, the Township did not incur any costs associated with the preparation of its Housing Needs Report. After securing the grant, and going through a selection process, the CRD hired Urban Matters, a self-financed Community Contribution Company, to prep...
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