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.