High density housing has made up a majority of Parksville's additional inventory over recent years, with more on the way to meet growing demand. (Megan Gibson/88.5 The Beach)

By Alex Rawnsley

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‘Zoning could be the answer:’ Parksville eyes ways to meet housing needs

Dec 20, 2024 | 4:25 PM

PARKSVILLE — A new report is shedding more light on housing availability in the city, along with what’s needed in the next five to 20 years.

Prepared by the City’s planning department, the Parksville Interim Housing Needs Report shows an additional 1,064 housing units are needed in the next five years, with over 3,600 required by 2045 to meet expected population growth in the region.

Blaine Russell, City director of community planning, told Councillors on Monday, Dec. 16, that further regional looks at housing needs and population growth are available or underway, but a local view provided vital context.

“To work through the numbers yourself, you get a better sense. With us going into an Official Community Plan review in the near future, it was important for us to have a good understanding what the numbers are, as well it got us looking at other data that we’ll need for that review.”

The report broke housing needs down into various categories, including “extreme core need” which is defined as people who spend 50 per cent or more of their income on housing costs.

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Sixty-eight extreme core need homes were identified as required in the next five years, with 272 needed in the next 20.

Those in “suppressed households” are generally in a younger demographic and are wanting to form their own household but are currently living with family or in a shared house.

It’s typically tougher for them to enter the housing market due to escalating home prices.

Roughly three times as many people in 2006 rented a home, deemed to be a “suppressed household” compared with owning, with the number dropping to around 11 per cent in 2021.

Renting-ownership splits were relatively even for those aged 25-34 in 2006, but shifted to around two-thirds renting by 2021.

Data from the report will help inform future decision making by staff and Council, including when considering development and building permits for housing projects.

Russell said the government can help with some things, but much of it is out of their control.

“In many cases we don’t own land, we essentially put speed limit signs on things, we can put a regulation that stops something from happening, we can put a directional arrow that says we’d like this to happen. We can set a speed limit that establishes how much of something can happen.”

Coun. Joel Grenz said it’s a changing landscape.

He added increasing popularity around short-term rentals also further complicates planning moving forward.

“There are all kind of other things going on with society like household formation is reduced where people are not marrying as quickly then they’re divorcing more quickly so we have the need for more houses because people don’t cohabitate as much as they may have in previous eras.”

Construction of new apartment and condo complexes is ongoing throughout Parksville, with demand continuing to increase for places to live. (Megan Gibson/88.5 The Beach)

Mayor Doug O’Brien said consideration around zoning could have a major impact on housing developments, particularly around long-term RV housing.

He hinted changes could be in the works through the Regional District of Nanaimo.

“Zoning is one of those big directional signs we give to potential developers. In the back of my mind…zoning could be the answer to creating proper recreation RV living by converting zoning to existing areas that are substantially less than the average City of Parksville property cost.”

O’Brien added the City is unable to control market forces and ultimately developers will only come in to build housing if they feel it can be beneficial from a commercial standpoint.

The government’s role is to then establish the playing field through zoning, balancing between making the area attractive for new housing projects while ensuring community character remains.

“Many of the large buildings that go up whether it’s four storey or whatever, the market will determine…whether that’s going to be rental or market sale, as in condos. They’re looking at our vacancy rate as well to make sure the market’s not over-saturated. They’re the ones that are going to tell us we’ve got enough rentals because they’ll stop building them.”

From March 2022 through the end of November 2024, 118 building permits were issued by the City, for 797 housing units.

A vast majority were in multi-unit residential or mixed-use buildings.

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