Currently, the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) does not develop or manage affordable housing. The RDN does recognizes housing affordability as an ongoing challenge in the region and will continue to assess its role and further opportunities and action to be taken where appropriate.
However, the RDN has a housing framework which includes a series of policies and initiatives with the goal of providing more affordable and supportive housing across the region. A key consideration of the framework is to promote a more diverse range of housing options to accommodate the current and future housing needs of our communities.
The Housing Framework is based on three key components:
- The RDN's Board's Strategic Priority includes a goal to promote affordable housing for residents.
- The high-level housing policy guidance provided in the Regional Growth Strategy (Goal 4) that helps to inform the region's Official Community Plans.
- The more detailed housing policy direction contained in the Official Community Plans for each municipality and electoral area in the region.
Regional District of Nanaimo Strategic Plan 2019-2022
The RDN’s Strategic Plan is the highest level plan for the RDN Board, providing guidance to the elected officials as they make policy and regulatory decisions, as well as direction to staff as they deliver plans, projects and services to residents. Goal 3: Promote Affordable Housing for Residents includes three housing related actions:
3.1 Advocate for additional funding supports for housing from senior governments.
3.2 Develop a Regional Housing Strategy, including support/tools for affordable housing.
3.3 Advocate for Alternative regulations in the BC building code to support innovation.
Regional Growth Strategy:
The Regional Growth Strategy directs higher density growth to growth containment boundaries (GCBs), which is a mapped boundary defining where growth is to be directed. The intent of the GCB is to control urban sprawl and to encourage the development of compact, complete and connected communities within municipalities and/or within a Rural Village Centres in electoral areas.
The Regional Growth Strategy is currently being updated, and due to the persistent challenge of housing affordability in the region, the Draft Regional Growth Strategy Shaping Our Future 2040 (Goal 6) contains new strategies dedicated to housing policies. These policies emphasize the need to expand the supply (housing type and tenure) and multiple new advocacy policies calling on senior levels of government to fund and legislate new measures. Other new policies recognize the importance of partnerships and monitoring and reporting on regional housing trends.
Official Community Plans:
Official Community Plans (OCPs) encourage a mix of housing types and sizes in their respected communities to provide appropriate housing choices that respond to the various needs of a diverse population, including those looking for a more affordable option to a single-family home. Within most OCPs, more dense forms of housing, including affordable housing projects are directed to Rural Village Centres with adequate servicing capacity to accommodate the development and provide places for people to live, work, learn, play and may include lands intended to be conserved to support ecosystem functions or other green space purposes. This strategy prevents sprawl and preserves land situated outside or Rural Village Centres primarily for rural purposes requiring only limited infrastructure and services to be viable.
Zoning Bylaw:
The RDN is currently undergoing a review of Zoning Bylaw 500 to ensure it aligns with the Regional Growth Strategy and OCPs to identify barriers to housing and explore, and potentially adopt new zoning mechanisms, where appropriate, and address housing affordability issues.
In addition, RDN completed a Regional Housing Needs (RHN) report in June 2020. Similar to challenges faced by comparable communities across the province, the RHN report identified an aging and expanding population and increased housing demand across the region, and a persistently challenging housing market. Although similar challenges exist, the solutions necessary for each area is unique and requires responses that meet the specific needs of their populations, reflective of local culture and aspirations
The RDN is mostly comprised of large, rural lots with single family dwelling units being the primary form of housing. Like many rural areas, servicing restraints (lack of community water and sewer) limit denser forms of development, therefore most affordable housing is directed to urban areas (member municipalities) with appropriate levels of services (water, sewer, transit, social services etc.), and rural areas generally accommodate rural forms of low density housing (single family dwelling). The member municipalities each have their own unique affordable housing strategies and are better equipped with services to adequately accommodate affordable housing developments.
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