Housing
Everyone deserves a home.
That’s why we are working on several policies to address housing and affordability in our community.
Victoria Housing Strategy 2016 - 2025
Council adopted Phase Two: Victoria Housing Strategy 2019 - 2022 in July 2019 which builds on Phase One of the strategy and Council’s Strategic Plan.
The Victoria Housing Strategy provides guidance for housing policies and initiatives that meet residents’ needs across the housing continuum (see diagram below). No one policy on its own is expected to address all housing needs and collaboration with senior levels of government is critical.
The strategy includes 44 actions that focus on ways to:
- Improve affordability, stability and choice for renters
- Encourage new housing supply
- Encourage a range of housing options to meet the needs of residents
- Track our progress and improve the City’s housing policies and programs
- Try bold ideas to achieve new results
Read the Victoria Housing Strategy Phase Two [PDF - 3 MB]
Read the Victoria Housing Strategy Phase Two Summary Brochure [PDF - 3 MB]
Read the Victoria Housing Strategy Annual Review 2022
Read the 2022 Housing Progress Snapshot
Housing Strategy COVID-19 response:
In June 2020, Council re-prioritized the following Housing Strategy actions to focus on housing insecurity in response to the pandemic in order to:
Read the Staff Report |
Rental Property Standards of Maintenance Bylaw
As part of the City’s efforts to improve rental housing and support for renters, a new bylaw has been approved:
More information is available here.
If you have questions about this bylaw, including how it may apply to you as a tenant or as a landlord, please contact housing@victoria.ca or 250.361.0382. |
Actions completed in 2021:
- Rental Property Standards of Maintenance Bylaw. As part of the City’s efforts to improve rental housing and support for renters, a new bylaw has been approved to support a minimum standard of rental housing in Victoria and is in effect as of January 31, 2021. Read the Summary and Staff Report.
- Support the creation of the Greater Victoria Housing Security and Rent Bank Program to provide housing support services and non-repayable grants of up to $3,000 to renters experiencing temporary financial emergencies.
- Victoria’s Housing Future Report describes some of the technical analysis, planning fundamentals, statistics, and shared principles that inform the actions and proposed outcomes of the City’s planning initiatives.
- As a result of the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, the Victoria Housing Future Report, and feedback from Council, Housing Unit Targets were updated to consider latent demand and establish distinct targets for homes that are affordable for very low-, low-and median income households. These targets were updated in the Victoria Housing Strategy Phase Two (page 48).
Priority Actions Underway:
- Village and Corridor Planning Project to help create neighbourhoods with more housing choices, better transportation options, new services and amenities, and improved public spaces
- Missing Middle Housing Project to create more housing choice by making it easier to build diverse ground-oriented housing like duplexes, houseplexes and townhouses that fit well within neighbourhoods and support citywide livability and sustainability goals
- Support to faith-based, charitable, and non-profit housing developers through capacity building and process support to develop affordable housing.
- Rapid Deployment of Affordable Housing Process and Regulatory Changes for government and non-profit housing providers to reduce project timelines and assist affordable housing partners in addressing the urgent need for non-market affordable housing.
- Rental Incentives Project to explore possible density and tax incentives for encouraging the development of below market rental housing and other housing objectives.
A full list of all 44 housing actions for 2019-2025 are listed in the Victoria Housing Strategy (2019-2022) [PDF - 3 MB]
Upcoming Housing Work in 2022
- Barrier-free Housing & Universal Design Project to encourage the development of more barrier-free housing and universal design in new developments.
- Tenant Engagement Project to undertake tenant capacity building and engagement activities so that they may be equipped with a fulsome understanding of their rights and entitlements.
- Inclusionary Housing and Community Amenity Policy review to monitor and update the policy’s fixed rates and targets.
- Family Housing Policy to encourage the development of more two-and three-bedroom units and to ensure new housing meets the needs of families.
- Market Rental Energy Upgrades Pilot Program that uses municipal tax incentives to encourage the rehabilitation of existing rental buildings to achieve seismic resiliency and energy efficiencies with limited tenant displacement
- Official Community Plan, 2012 amendments as part of the adaptive management framework, with specific amendments to align with the Victoria Housing Strategy and Inclusionary Housing and Community Amenity Policy
Get Involved
Visit engage.victoria.ca to learn about current and upcoming opportunities to provide input on housing-related work.
