The City of Port Alberni will need more than 1,200 new units of housing in the next five years to meet the community's housing need, according to a new report.
Port Alberni's manager of planning Brian McLoughlin presented an interim housing needs report to a committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 3. City staff worked with consultant City Spaces to put together this report, which is required by the province.
The report looked at median rent and housing prices in Port Alberni. In both cases, prices have been "accelerating" since 2015 due to a lack of supply in the market, said McLoughlin. In the past five years, the sale price of a house has gone up by 52 percent, while the sale price of a condo has skyrocketed by 117 percent.
However, in the rental market, rent prices have increased 33 percent more than renter household incomes since 2006 — which means rent increases are outpacing people's ability to afford them. McLoughlin partially attributed this to a lack of supply in the market. From 2006 to 2021, Port Alberni gained 520 renter households, but only gained 62 new purpose-built rentals.
In the next five years, Port Alberni will need 1,220 new housing units, both for renters and buyers. McLoughlin says this is based on the current need for housing, and the expectation that the population will grow in the next five years.
“There is not enough housing now," he said.
The report had some dire statistics for new homeowners. Purchasing any dwelling in Port Alberni in 2024 (either a house or condo) requires a household income of $107,104 (with a down payment of $85,100). Only 25 percent of households in Port Alberni earn more than $100,000. Only 10 percent of renters have the minimum income to afford a townhome with a 20 percent down payment.
“There’s a very small slice of people who could afford to purchase any dwelling in Port Alberni,” said McLoughlin. “Their ability to purchase depends on having a very large down payment.”
Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions, who works in the mortgage industry, shared that many people can’t save for a down payment because their rent is often more than a mortgage payment.
“There are a lot of imbalances there that are very frustrating," she said.
McLoughlin says city staff will consider this interim housing needs report when developing the city’s next Official Community Plan (OCP). He says the city can use things like land regulations and partnerships with non-profit housing providers to encourage the development of more housing units.
“What the city has to do is incentivize and use its influence to encourage the production of non-market housing,” said McLoughlin.
Councillor Debbie Haggard shared the story of a professional couple she knew that wanted to relocate to Port Alberni. They could not find a suitable long-term home to purchase, so they ended up moving elsewhere.
“Those are the kinds of people you want to attract to ensure that they stay here, they live here, they contribute to the economy,” she said. “We really need professionals in our community.”
She also told the rest of council that the city's next Point in Time Homeless Count will take place on April 30, 2025, which will give a better picture of the unhoused population in Port Alberni.
Chris Alemany, a Port Alberni resident who was attending the meeting on Tuesday, said he appreciated the report but pointed out that affordability is a key issue when it comes to the city's housing supply.
“Yes we need to build more housing," he said. "But there is a wage gap between what people are making and how fast prices have risen, regardless of supply.”
