REQUEST FOR DECISION
DATE: August 22, 2022 Report No. DEV-22-082
TO: Laurie Hurst, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Bill Brown, Director of Development Services
SUBJECT:
Title
Receipt of the Housing Needs Report by Council
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RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That Council receives by resolution, the Housing Needs Report attached as Schedule "A" to staff report DEV-22-082, pursuant to Section 585.31 of the Local Government Act and instruct staff to post it to the Township's website.
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RELEVANT POLICY:
Local Government Act
STRATEGIC RELEVANCE:
The Housing Needs Report has no Strategic Relevance as most of the information contained in it is out of date.
BACKGROUND:
At their November 9, 2020, meeting, the Committee of the Whole reviewed the draft Housing Needs Assessment. The minutes of the meeting record the following:
Director of Development Services provided an overview of the report and
responded to questions from COTW. Comments included concerns relating
to the use of the CRD's Regional Growth Strategy data to formulate the
Province's draft housing needs report for Esquimalt as the Township has
noted discrepancies with the accuracy of the RGS data, inquiring with the
Province as to whether an extension may be granted to incorporate the
results of the 2021 census data in hopes to achieve a more accurate
reflection of housing needs in Esquimalt, and consideration of including a
disclaimer with the draft housing needs report if an extension is not granted.
The Committee of the Whole did not pass a resolution related to this matter. One of the issues brought up by the Committee was to wait and incorporate the 2021 census data into the report. Given that the Census results showed a slight decrease in population of 122 persons (-0.7 percent), adjustments to the Housing Needs Report were likely to result in negligible changes compared to the impact of rising house prices and interest rates.
Staff remains concerned about the us...
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