Coquitlam has been widely recognized as a housing leader in our region. As one of the fastest-growing cities in Metro Vancouver, we understand the challenges of supply and demand, and for more than a decade we have been taking bold steps to address them.
Our award-winning Housing Affordability Strategy laid the foundation for much of this work. Building on that, programs like the Rental Incentives Program and Affordable Housing Reserve Fund along with other Council-driven initiatives have helped us plan for growth, streamline approvals, and deliver tens of thousands of new homes. Between 2020 and 2024, the City’s development approvals and policies supported the completion of nearly 9,000 new homes – 38% more than the Province’s own Housing Target Order requires. We have also approved close to 26,000 new housing units and helped deliver more than 5,000 purpose-built rentals, including hundreds of below- or non-market homes.
These are real results, achieved without provincial directives. Which raises an important question: if the Province acknowledges Coquitlam has been doing a “good job”, why issue a Housing Target Order at all? The challenge isn’t approving homes. It’s ensuring they can be built and supported.
Municipalities control land use, policy and approvals, but we do not control interest rates, construction costs or labour shortages. Those are among the key reasons why housing starts are down 20% across B.C. this year, despite approvals being in place. Simply put, targets alone will not deliver homes.
What will make the difference is partnership. As we grow, Coquitlam urgently needs the infrastructure that is the Province’s responsibility: schools, hospitals, childcare and transit. Today our classrooms are overcrowded, families face shortage in childcare, and Coquitlam remains the only B.C. municipality of our size without a hospital or urgent care centre. Transit is also falling behind our growth.
By our estimates, meeting the provincial infrastructure needs in Coquitlam will require approximately $1.1 billion in school investments, $1.2 billion in transit projects, over $600 million in transportation upgrades, and $228 million for childcare. And if the Province expects 2,252 new below-market homes here in five years, that will require provincial funding at scale, likely in the range of $1.2 billion.
At the same time, changes to provincial development finance rules risk undermining the very tools cities use to provide parks, recreation centres and other amenities that make new neighbourhoods livable. Those changes benefited developers, at the expense of residents.
As I noted in my previous Op-Ed when the new provincial legislation was first introduced, Coquitlam supports the intention behind the Province’s proposals. We are in a housing crisis, and all orders of government must act.
Coquitlam is not asking the Province to step back. We are asking them to step up – with sustained investment in their own areas of jurisdiction – the infrastructure and services that make housing growth possible and communities livable.
For more than a decade, Coquitlam has proven we can do our part. Now, we need the Province to do theirs.
Mayor Richard Stewart
City of Coquitlam