City of Nanaimo saw 1,170 new residential units built in 2023

Rowett says some of the current top construction projects are in or near the downtown area. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

Housing projects continue to be at the forefront of development approvals and are still happening around Nanaimo, said the manager of current planning for the City of Nanaimo.

Lainya Rowett, manager of current planning, and Lisa Brinkman, manager of community planning for the city of Nanaimo presented to council on Monday an overview of development and housing from 2023.

Rowett said there is a continued decline in new single-family dwelling units created, but she said this is not a surprising change.

“It's not surprising increasing housing costs of construction, as well as fewer lots being created through subdivisions as we see different forms of housing provided through multifamily projects,” Rowett said.

The city saw 60 per cent of the new homes contain a secondary suite which is on trend for the 60 per cent average.

2023 saw a total of 1,170 new residential units built with a higher number of high-density homes than low-density housing. Of the new builds 912 of them were multi-family homes, 124 were single-family homes, and 122 were suites.

2023 also saw the continuing trend of buildings clustered together in certain neighbourhoods across the city.

“Again, another trend that we're seeing is in our urban centers and along our major corridors, so opportunities for people to live closer to schools, transit routes, and parks and recreation amenities,” Rowett said.

Rowett said some of the current top construction projects are in or near the downtown area. These included the Telus Living Project on Wallace Street, consisting of two apartment towers with 195 units and underground parking.

“This is a key project in the downtown and I think it's certainly as you go by the site of this block, seeing a lot of change, and it's going to have a significant impact in the heart of the downtown and very near to the Old City Quarter,” she said.

New construction on Machleary Street on the upslope of the downtown area consists of a 5-storey senior apartment building with 145 units, and nearby, construction on the corner of Campbell Street and Wallace Street will see a new 6-storey rental building with 163 units and a two-level parking garage. 

In the north end of Nanaimo, the new construction of two new 5-story apartment buildings at 6981and 6985 Island Highway North will feature 75 units and 74 units respecitly. These buildings add to the already existing three apartment buildings at the location.

With bigger developments, Rowett said it means more assets to the areas are added including new streetlights, fire hydrants, sidewalks and walkways. She also adds as most of the new builds were done in already existing urban areas, fewer new roads were created.

For affordable housing in 2023, Brinkman said from a 2023 housing needs report, it was found an average of 1,155 housing units are needed annually to accommodate the growth in Nanaimo. She said the city is on track as 1,170 housing units were issued building permits in 2023.

The report found an average of 525 non-market housing units are needed annually for households earning less than $40,000 per year. In 2023, 121 non-market units were issued an occupancy permit and 40 non-market units were issued building permits.

Brinkman said achieving the annual average can be a challenge.

“Achieving 525 non-market units annually is a challenge requiring resources from the province and the federal government, but the city will continue to find ways to support non-market housing,” Brinkman

Brinkman said city staff have been working towards understanding the total of non-market housing units that currently exist in the city.

“So what we've found was that 1,452 social housing units do exist and there may be more; these are just the ones we identified so far,” Brinkman said.

She explains social housing is permanent housing that is subsidized and has lower than the average cost of private market housing.

As well as 259 temporary housing beds were found, offering emergency and support services for people experiencing homelessness or at risk of it.

Brinkman said one of the key ways the city supports more non-market housing in the city is through its partnership with BC Housing.

In 2020 the city and BC Housing signed a memorandum of understanding for six sites in the city.

So far only two of the six sites, one on Nicol Street and the other on Prideaux Street, have been completed. Both sites each have 51 supportive housing units.

After the presentation, Councillor Janice Perino asked as the city is not hitting the average goal for non-market housing, if the new builds with BC Housing will help meet the goal.

Jeremy Holm, director of planning and development for the city, said that there have been promising recent announcements by both the provincial and federal governments to support the city in increasing non-market housing.

“It's much too early to say whether or not we'll see us hitting targets there. But they're going to help us move in the right direction,” Holm said. “There are more tools that the provinces have announced recently, that we're still going to be working through understanding how we're going to work those into sort of the toolbox that the city has to help encourage non-market housing and support that.”

Brinkman said although some years could have lower numbers than other years, the partnership with BC Housing will see an increase in the numbers of non-market housing in Nanaimo.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.