A new report shows Burnaby will need more than double the homes than it expected by 2031.
The city’s new housing needs report estimates Burnaby needs 36,540 homes by 2031, 143% more than its previous estimate, to keep on track to build 74,051 homes by 2041.
From 2021 to 2026, the city’s estimates have increased by 181% to 22,724 new homes needed.
The report notes the new estimates are “significantly higher” than the estimates from 2021, due to “variations in data sources, methodologies and the timing of the estimates.”
The estimates are initially tracked over a five-year period starting in 2021, and since then Burnaby has seen almost 11,100 new homes built.
As of June this year, there are more than 10,200 new homes under construction.
The report is a result of last year’s provincial housing legislation which expects cities to update their housing needs reports with new methodologies and data.
Burnaby completed its first housing needs report in 2021.
The new report now uses updated data from the census and BC Statistics and now uses CMHC’s Housing Market Information portal and B.C.’s integrated data project.
The methodology now incorporates information on:
- Households that were unable to form due to a constrained housing environment, like a young person unable to move out of their parent’s house
- Extreme core housing need, referring to households who spend 50% or more of pre-tax income to pay rent
- The number of permanent housing requirements for people currently experience homelessness
- The surplus of rental units required to restore local vacancy rates to a “healthy” 3%
- The number of additional demands for housing in a community beyond the minimum homes to adequately house current and anticipated residents, called a “demand buffer” (a ratio of housing price to housing density)
The report highlights some of the tasks the city has undertaken to reduce housing need, including:
- Introducing multiplex housing (allowing three to six units) on all single-family lots, as required by provincial legislation
- Establishing the Burnaby Housing Authority to develop non-market affordable housing
- Reviewing the development approvals process to cut red tape
The city plans to see about half of its residential growth built in its four town centres: Brentwood, Lougheed, Edmonds and Metrotown.
The new report will inform the revamp of the city’s Official Community Plan which will prepare for the city’s growth over the next 25 years and beyond.
Read Burnaby’s updated housing needs report here.
Read the city’s 2021housing needs report here.
