Advocacy Updates Blog
Published Apr 08, 2025
Provincial - Proactive Planning Guidance
Update
April 8th, 2025
As mentioned in previous updates, the Province also provided two webinars for local government officials on the Proactive Planning Guidance, and have now provided the links to them as well as the slide decks:
March 25th, 2025
On March 14th, the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs published the Proactive Planning Guidance, emphasizing long-term planning to ensure that enough land is designated and pre-zoned to meet both current and future housing needs.
The specific changes to the Local Government Act (LGA) are outlined as follows:
- Housing Needs Reports (HNR)
- All local governments must have completed an Interim HNR by January 1, 2025, using the new, standardized HNR methodology (the “HNR Method”).
- After the Interim HNR, local governments must complete their first “regular” HNR by December 31, 2028, and every five years thereafter.
- Full HNR guidance can be found at Housing Needs Reports - Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca).
- Aligning OCPs and Zoning Bylaw with Housing Needs Reports
- By December 31, 2025, all municipalities (not regional districts or the Islands Trust) are required to update their OCPs to include statements and map designations to meet anticipated housing needs over at least 20 years, as identified in their Interim HNR. This update must also ensure the OCP includes housing policies respecting each of the seven classes of housing needs required in HNRs. Subsequent OCP updates are due by December 31, 2030, and then every 5 years thereafter.
- By December 31, 2025, all municipalities (not regional districts or the Islands Trust) must also align zoning bylaws with OCPs and HNRs to pre-zone for the total amount of housing their community needs. Subsequent zoning bylaw updates are due by December 31, 2030, and then every 5 years thereafter.
- Public Hearings
- Public hearings are still required for OCP updates or amendments, to support better upfront community-wide planning, and must follow legislative requirements.
- For residential developments (including mixed-use developments that are at least 50% residential), public hearings for rezonings that are consistent with the OCP cannot be held.
- For other land uses (e.g. commercial, industrial, agricultural, etc.), local governments can still choose to hold a public hearing for rezonings.
- Public hearings are required for all rezonings that are not consistent with the OCP.
