Housing is a critical issue across Canada and New Westminster is no exception in that. The good news is that New Westminster has just been awarded $11.4 million by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, (CMHC), to accelerate housing starts in the city.

Susan Millar – Local Journalism Initiative

Called the Housing Accelerator Fund, it is intended to speed up the approval process for building. As Mayor Patrick Johnstone explains in this program, the city is not in the business of home construction, but the fund will allow for more staff and consultants and thus more building approvals can get out the door, more quickly.

The bad news is that while this should speed up housing construction, the city is ham strung when it comes to creating “affordable” housing. The provincial and federal governments are going to have to step up in a serious way to make that a real possibility, according to the Mayor.

The City has been in the progress of creating 5,000 new homes by the end of the decade – this is a ten year process. The province has now stepped in to say that the City has to add 4,000+ homes in 5 years, which not only means speeding up their process, but the province has added the requirement that occupancy be achieved in that time frame too.

Add to that, the province has put in many policies to speed the densification of cities, which adds another layer of complexity to all the plans.

Mayor Johnstone provides a detailed explanation about the housing issues in New Westminster. And while New Westminster is considered a leader in housing, the challenges ahead are daunting – not something that keeps Johnstone from anything but a positive attitude about solving the housing issues ahead.