Cranbrook needing 1,262 housing units in next five years

Victoria Gardens, a 20-unit affordable housing complex in Cranbrook. (Supplied by the B.C. Government)

Cranbrook’s latest housing needs report shows the city has a long way to go to meet five-year and 20-year goals.

The housing estimates were developed using a new calculating tool from the province.

“What this tool has calculated for Cranbrook is that the anticipated need for Cranbrook housing for the next five years is 1,262 units and the 20-year is 3,650,” said planning manager Rob Veg.

Engineering and development services director Mike Matejka says they will have to evaluate what developments are currently in the works to see what other work needs to be done to get closer to meeting the five-year goal.

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“We’ve talked about some of the projects that we do have in the queue as far as multiple stages in the development process,” he said.

“Now we’re looking at bringing those updates forward and then have some comparison to these targets and look at projections to see where things are actually going.”

City council has approved a number of large developments over the past couple of years, but in some cases, the developers just aren’t building.

Matejka says they will be checking in with some of the developers to get a better idea of what’s going on.

“We’re trying to get more recent updates even if it’s not firm or final from some of the developments and developers that we’re working with,” he said.

“The intention is that in late January or early February we’ll bring that to council to have that picture and understanding of what the pace of this is.”

The city was required by the province to have a new housing needs report completed by Jan. 1, 2025.


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