British Columbia has set new housing targets for a group of 10 more municipalities with the goal of meeting housing demands in the province.
It says the orders aim to boost housing supply by about 40,000 homes over the next five years.
The Housing Ministry says it’s the fourth group of communities in the expanded housing-targets program, and includes Burnaby, Coquitlam, Courtenay, the Township of Langley, Langford, Penticton, Pitt Meadows, Richmond, Squamish and Vernon.
The ministry says in a news release that each municipality has been given five-year targets, which begin on Sept. 1 and reflect 75 per cent of their estimated housing needs.
It says each municipality has been given a set of guidelines that recommend the number of units by size, and how many should be owned or rentals.
The ministry says more than 14,000 of the homes will be below-market rentals.
It says more than 16,000 new homes have been built in the first 30 communities selected for housing targets.
The biggest housing order in the latest group is for 10,240 homes in Burnaby, while Coquitlam, Richmond and the Township of Langley are each being told to boost supply by more than 6,000 homes.