Salmon Arm in fourth group of municipalities given provincial housing targets

SALMON ARM, B.C. — The City of Salmon Arm has been tasked with meeting provincially mandated housing targets.

The B.C. government announced a fourth group of priority communities will soon be given housing targets, including Salmon Arm and Vernon.

“As we add new communities to the housing targets program to keep up with demand, we will continue to work together with municipalities to make sure more people can find homes that fit their needs and budgets,” Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, stated.

In 2023, the province launched the Housing Supply Act that allows it to set housing targets in municipalities with the greatest need and highest projected population growth. The City of Kamloops was among the first 10 municipalities to be given a five-year timeline, needing to build 4,236 new housing units by September 2028, with 679 of those units required to come online by Sept. 30, 2024.

In a news release issued Thursday (May 29), the province says 16,130 new net homes have been built across the first 30 municipalities since the Housing Supply Act came into effect. However, while progress reports for municipalities in the second and third groups of priority communities with housing targets were provided, there was not an update provided on Kamloops.

In a letter to Kamloops council in January 2025, Kahlon noted Kamloops only delivered 449 new net housing units in its first year, 66 per cent of the first-year goal of 679. However, he said he was encouraged that 1,768 new units were in the development pipeline, which, if delivered, would surpass Kamloops’ two-year goal of 1,414.

The province says municipalities have access to a $1-billion fund to address population growth and $51 million in grant-based funding to support activities and projects, such as updating existing zoning bylaws, housing needs reports and official community plans.