The City of Port Alberni and Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) are looking for public feedback about housing in the Alberni Valley.
Both local governments have released a Housing Needs Assessment survey that asks for input from local community members about local demographics, economics and housing needs.
As of April 2019, provincial legislation requires municipal governments to produce and publish Housing Needs Reports that will identify existing and projected gaps in the community’s housing supply. Both the City of Port Alberni and the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) have received funding from the Union of BC Municipalities to develop these reports.
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Although the city and the ACRD are working on separate reports—a government requirement—they are coordinating when it comes to public feedback.
“We’ve found when we’ve done other projects like this we often have a lot of overlap with city residents and regional district residents,” explained Mike Irg, ACRD manager of planning and development, during an ACRD board meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 28. “This way we’re not inundating the community with two versions of the same questions.”
Both the city and the ACRD are also using the same consultant for their reports, which will allow for a coordinated approach when it comes to research.
The full housing needs reports are expected to be completed by early 2021 and will be made public.
In the meantime, a housing needs survey is available to all city and Alberni Valley electoral area residents until Nov. 16. It takes about 15 minutes to complete. All answers will remain confidential. Those who complete the survey will also have a chance to enter a draw for a $50 gift card to a local business of their choice.
The survey can be found at letsconnectpa.ca.
Paper copies of the survey are also available by contacting the city’s planning department at 250-720-2808 or the ACRD’s planning department at 250-720-2700.
elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.com
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