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The Government of British Columbia finally posts Freedom of Information response on its “Open Information” catalogue regarding Housing Target Consultations that the Province made with Municipalities; after almost a year and a half since the FOI request was made.

Over 40% of the pages appear to be hidden. The FOI response contains 837 visible pages (some of which are blanked out with a note about that). The full FOI response was indexed at 1405 pages.

By Sasha Izard
March 20, 2025


In a recent article, I wrote about how the Province of BC had repeatedly failed to post on the Province’s “Open Information” catalogue, the results of an FOI request that I made nearly a year and a half ago. As a result of repeated requests that the FOI response be posted, the Province has finally complied.

The FOI request was for:

“Copies of all records pertaining to the Housing consultations the province made with communities subject to the province’s Housing Supply Act, on the targets over the summer including which communities were consulted, how many people were engaged in each of the consultations, what were the questions asked in the consultations and what were the responses from the consultations. Include how
the results of those consultations led to the housing target numbers and how it led to those numbers only in certain municipalities. (Date Range for Record Search: From 6/1/2023 To 10/4/2023)”

Now you can see how the Province engaged with your municipalities on generating the housing targets and the responses from your municipal staffers and elected officials, if applicable.

That is what is visible, over 40% of the FOI response appears to be hidden. The FOI response contains 837 visible pages (some of which are blanked out with a note about that). The full FOI response was indexed at 1405 pages.

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The FOI Request # is HSG-2023-32696

Response package (pdf) this link contains the FOI response.

Response letter (pdf).

Catalogue details page – Province of British Columbia

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Background:

“The first 10 municipalities were selected for housing target assessment in May 2023 under the authority of the Housing Supply Act, which allows the Province to set housing targets in communities with the most urgent housing needs. The Province consulted with the selected municipalities during the summer to set the final housing target orders. These housing targets are net new units to be completed within five years.

The target orders for each municipality:

City of Abbotsford – 7,240 housing units

City of Delta – 3,607 housing units

City of Kamloops – 4,236 housing units

District North Vancouver – 2,838 housing units

District of Oak Bay – 664 housing units

City of Port Moody – 1,694 housing units

District of Saanich – 4,610 housing units

City of Vancouver – 28,900 housing units

City of Victoria – 4,902 housing units

District of West Vancouver – 1,432 housing units”

BC Gov News

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See previous article: The Government of British Columbia has repeatedly failed to post Freedom of Information response on its so-called “Open Information” catalogue regarding Housing Target Consultations that the Province made with Municipalities, after almost a year and a half since the FOI request was made. – CRD Watch Homepage

See also: Documents obtained by Freedom of Information reveal that the Urban Development Institute (UDI) and the Province of BC collaborated on the Housing Supply Act. The Act would lead to Provincially mandated housing targets and advisors being appointed for some municipalities. – CRD Watch Homepage

The Urban Development Institute lobbied the Province of BC to implement what they called “Global Housing Targets”. The Province would deliver new Housing Bills in response. – CRD Watch Homepage

In March 2023, prior to the release of the BC Provincial Housing Targets for select municipalities, the Urban Development Institute (UDI), not only lobbied the Province on Enforceable Housing Targets, but also on an Advisor for municipalities “should they be appointed”. – CRD Watch Homepage