A report shows Grand Forks needs 239 housing units in the next five years to meet its housing needs.
The housing needs report, reviewed by city council on Monday (Jan. 13), also shows the 20 year goal is 590 units.
As for the type of homes in the short term, consultant Dan Penner told city council there’s a lack of downsize options for seniors.
“Whether that’s townhomes, apartments, single-level accessible housing, it sort of creates a bottleneck because seniors aren’t able to downsize and because of that it limits opportunities for single family homes to be opened up for new families to come into the community,” Penner explained.
Based on 2021 census data, roughly three quarters of city homes are single family houses.
“There’s just a lack of downsize options for existing seniors in the community,” he said.
Councillor Zak Eburne-Stoodley says the balance of workforce to retirees is a “scary position” considering 35 per cent of the city’s population was 65-plus in 2021.
“The B.C. average is 20 per cent. I know Parksville had an issue at 25 per cent just keeping the balance of workers to those are in the retiree age groups…that’s kind of a scary position that we’re currently in,” Eburne-Stoodley said.
As for affordability, Penner says Grand Forks is one of the most affordable B.C. municipalities from a housing perspective.
Penner is looking forward to seeing the results of census data in 2026 for the next housing report for Grand Forks in 2030.
He says there’s anecdotal evidence more young families are moving into the community “but it just hasn’t been captured yet since 2020 when they did the last household survey.”
Mayor Everett Baker agreed.
“We have far more younger families staying in our community, buying homes here, getting jobs and raising their families than we may have had in the past and hopefully the new census will show that,” Baker said.
The housing needs report will be used by the city for development planning.
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