Chilliwack affordable housing waitlist has grown by 500% since 2016

Over the last eight years, Chilliwack has welcomed nearly 18,000 more residents. But as Chilliwack’s population has grown by a whopping 20%, the number of people waiting for affordable housing has increased even faster.

Chilliwack’s mayor says that needs to change, and the province needs to get started building more affordable housing projects.

In 2016, Chilliwack had roughly 50 people on the BC Housing Registry, a list of people waiting for subsidized affordable housing. As of March 2024, there were 296 people on the list— a six-fold increase in less than a decade. And that doesn’t include the dozens of people at risk of homelessness who have applied for supportive housing.

With the rapid increase in the cost of housing, even the cheapest market rental homes are now stretching the wallets of low-income people. Affordable housing now largely depends on the availability of provincial subsidies. But recently, the province has pushed municipalities to participate as well.

Under the Housing Supply Act, the province has given cities like Vancouver, Abbotsford, Langley, and Chilliwack targets for how many new units they must get built over the next five years. The targets also include a certain number of affordable homes.

Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove said the province needs to realize that building new affordable housing is its job.

“What really pisses me off [is] they keep pushing all these [housing] targets on us, and in those targets are social housing, but they can't even get their crap together,” Popove said about the province.

It’s a problem of math.

In Chilliwack, there are no vacant homes for the 296 people on BC Housing’s registry. If one does become available, it is snapped up almost instantly.

When the Paramount project—a 66-unit development—opened its doors in March of this year, its subsidized apartments were immediately filled. (The building also has some units rented at market, or below-market, rates.)

Across Chilliwack, there are now 76 affordable units operated by BC Housing. There are also 260 units with independent providers—mostly in seniors complexes and co-ops. (People on the registry can choose to move into one of these homes if they become available and they are eligible, but need to apply to the housing operator directly.)

There is no timeline for when someone waiting for housing will get a home. Housing is based on need, not the length of time a person has been waiting. BC Housing has said it gives priority to seniors, people with a disability, families with children, and people who are at risk of homelessness.

With nearly as many people waiting for housing as there are subsidized homes, those at the bottom of the list may need to wait until people who just moved into an affordable apartment leave their home.

The registry for supportive housing—homes in buildings that include social supports—is no different. In Chilliwack, there are 113 people waiting for a vacancy to open up in one of 92 supportive housing units. (Some people may be on both registries.)

There will eventually be more, but a 91-unit supportive housing project long planned for Trethewey Avenue is two-and-a-half years behind schedule.

That building, which will include both supportive housing and shelter spaces, was announced in March 2021. It will be jointly run by BC Housing and the Phoenix Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Society, and include 22 spaces for people who need complex care. (Complex care services include medication management, life-skills support, addictions medicine, and psychosocial rehabilitation supports.)

It was originally intended to be complete by the fall of 2023, but the building is still under construction, and unlikely to open soon. BC’s Housing website has not updated its projected completion date.

“I'm still dealing with some hospitals that are putting folks in cabs and sending them out here. Just a few weeks back Richmond did that, and a little bit before that North Shore Hospital,” Popove said. “I sent some letters to them, and said, ‘Stop it. We've got enough.’”

“The building that's two and a half years behind, there's going to be 49 individual suites put in there, which is great. Almost half of them are going to have complex care services attached to them,” he continued. “That's what we need.”

Cities can create policies that encourage the construction of new affordable housing projects. Chilliwack, Popove notes, has provided land and exempted BC Housing from paying development cost charges. But Popove said it’s mostly the province’s job to actually build new affordable homes.

BC’s Housing Supply Act, however, suggests otherwise. In June, Chilliwack was told it needed to approve 4,594 homes by June of 2029. At least 985 of those need to be below-market rentals, and another 120 need to be supportive rental units with on-site supports.

At the time, Popove told the Chilliwack Progress the total housing target was “absolutely unattainable,” saying home-building at a municipal level was market driven. He still feels that way, and told The Current that it was infuriating that the province was giving supportive housing targets to the city when Victoria itself was behind on its own local promises.

There has been some progress recently. Pacific Community Resources Society operates a wellness centre on Trethewey Avenue, which allows people to drop in to get out of the weather, connect to social supports, use the laundry, play games, or get wound care. (The centre opened as a temporary space in November 2022.) And when the 66-unit Paramount building began welcoming residents, it increased Chilliwack’s affordable housing stock by a quarter.

But, homelessness and affordable housing isn’t something just one development or drop-in centre can solve.

“As a business guy: you got a problem, you find a solution, you fix it, then you carry on the next problem,” Popove said. “Well, this is not that way.”

The housing crisis is an ongoing challenge that doesn’t have an easy fix. For his part, Popove thinks the province needs to step up on affordable housing—particularly as the election nears.

“There's all kinds of things that are happening, but it really revolves around the province’s mandates and their strategies,” he said. “You know, with an election coming up, it's going to be interesting to see what the parties’ … strategies are to move forward, because that is something that needs to happen.”