More than half a million dollars in provincial grants are now sitting in Chilliwack coffers to tackle the housing crisis.
Most of the funds will be used to update the 2040 Official Community Plan (OCP) in Chilliwack this year, instead of in a few years, council decided at the last meeting.
Chilliwack received word last December it would be allocated $587,196 in “capacity funding for local government housing initiatives” to update city bylaws, around small-scale multi-unit housing, and more, according the staff report.
The funds come from the $51 million in Local Government Housing Initiatives from the province, part of the sweeping Homes for People plan.
That means city bylaws will be changing to dovetail with provincial criteria, and municipal planning processes have to be engaged.
Council voted Feb. 16 to use the planning grants to update the OCP, as well obtaining a Housing Needs Report, and a Financial Analysis study.
Since the budget to complete the OCP review is allocated in the Chilliwack’s 10-year financial plan for 2027 ($175,000) and 2028 ($175,000), this grant is necessary to speed up the review, according to the staff report, as the project is anticipated to include infrastructure modelling with projected population growth.
Earlier this month, council took steps to comply with provincial efforts aimed at building more homes across B.C., by acknowledging Feb. 6 that the City of Chilliwack will no longer hold public hearings for any residential development rezoning applications that are consistent with height and density rules under the OCP.
The Homes for People plan saw several pieces of legislation introduced in 2023 to make changes to the land-use planning framework at the local government level, with the vision to allow cities like Chilliwack to see more housing built.
READ MORE: Chilliwack nixes public hearings to comply with B.C. rules
City of Chilliwack has to prepare for new legislative requirements under B.C.’s bold, new housing plan.
A review of the how the funding can be used was conducted, in terms of scope and guidelines, revealing several potential projects that would meet criteria, and as such, the following projects (totalling $575,000) were proposed using the city’s capacity funding allocation:
READ MORE: B.C. unveils ‘Homes for People’ plan