Affordable housing remains a challenge for communities large and small throughout BC. Many small communities (under 20,000) have policies in their Official Community Plans (OCPs) supporting the development of affordable housing, yet implementation of these policies remains a challenge. As the work in our report is focused on smaller communities the approaches that have ‘rural’ benefits are certainly the most interesting to consider, although the approaches with ‘urban/growing urban/suburban’ benefits are also interesting, as there are some rural communities that are growing quickly due to the proximity to major metropolitan areas (e.g Pitt Meadows, Squamish), amenity migration/vacation home pressures (e.g. Whistler, Tofino), or resource boom cycles (e.g Dawson Creek, Fort St, John).

The scan highlights proven approaches to affordable housing in small communities along with some new approaches to housing that seek to address the identified challenges and opportunities for affordable housing. While there are certainly partnership and funding roles to play in senior government policy for housing, the approaches highlighted here target what is possible to implement and access at the local level.