Housing Our Future | City of Delta

In 2023, the Government of British Columbia passed legislation to address a critical housing shortage across the province. Delta was one of 10 cities issued a Housing Target Order mandating the addition of 3,607 net new housing units within five years. The City must also provide for an additional 14,000 units over the next 20 years to match projected population growth. The City has taken the following steps to fulfill the provincial mandate.

1. Created a New Official Community Plan Focused on Housing

A City’s Official Community Plan describes where and what type of housing can be added across the city and contains long-term objectives and policies that guide decisions about land use, development, services, amenities and infrastructure. Delta Council adopted a new Official Community Plan (OCP) on July 8, 2024, making Delta the first municipality in the region to complete a review and update of its OCP.

Delta’s updated OCP incorporates three major changes: (1) identifying strategic growth in specific areas, including increasing density in urban corridors, (2) simplifying land use descriptions to streamline the development process, and (3) providing a framework to enable Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH). These changes will support the development of much-needed diverse housing options across the City.

2. Update the Zoning Bylaw to Allow for Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing

Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) describes a range of building and housing types that are ground-oriented and compatible in scale to low-density neighbourhoods. This type of housing helps to address the shortage of housing options between single-detached homes and condominiums and is intended to be attainable for middle-income families.

Delta has now introduced Provincially-required updates to zoning that will allow for up to four units on all single-detached and duplex lots. In early 2025, Council will receive an update on the progress of SSMUH over the first six months of implementation.

In the News

Monitoring Our Progress

The City is required to report annually on its progress towards the mandated housing target. Between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024, Delta exceeded its first annual housing target by achieving 561 net new units.

Involving the Community

Through the Official Community Plan process, the City undertook an engagement program aimed at maximizing awareness and opportunities for involvement, using the program to educate about changes required by the Province. It followed the “consult” level of participation with the aim to obtain public feedback on analysis, alternatives, and/or decisions and commits to inform participants, listen to and acknowledge concerns and aspirations, and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision. A summary of the phases is provided below.

Recognizing that awareness of the need for housing and an OCP update may be low, the first phase of the engagement program increased awareness of the City’s efforts to meet the provincial mandate and provide context for upcoming changes. Key activities included:
- Project page on Let’s Talk Delta (letstalk.delta.ca/HousingOurFuture) visited by 10,700
- City-wide mail out to 44,000 homes and businesses
- Full page newspaper advertisements
- Social media campaign including 48 posts
- Public correspondence via the DeltaOCPUpdate@delta.ca email
Building on Phase 1, Phase 2 shared draft land use designation maps and OCP policy directions. The community was invited to review what was being considered and share their feedback through online forms and in-person discussions. Key activities included:
- City-wide mail out to 44,000 homes and businesses
- Full page newspaper advertisements
- Four open houses attended by 1,200 community members
- Three online information sessions (including one in Punjabi and one for the business community)
- Community group and advisory committee outreach
- Online and paper feedback survey form that received 1,034 submissions
- Feedback gathered through this phase has been considered in developing the proposed 2024 OCP
Phase 3 provided the community and interested parties with the opportunity to view the proposed OCP and understand how their interests have been considered. This phase included the statutory requirement for a public hearing. Council gave First and Second Reading to OCP Bylaw No. 8400 to proceed to public hearing, initiating the following engagement activities:
- City-wide mail out to 44,000 homes and businesses
- Full page newspaper advertisements
- Statutory Notice of Public Hearing
- Two open houses from 6:00 – 8:00 pm on April 17 (Ladner Community Centre) and April 18 (North Delta Recreation Centre) to allow residents to ask questions about the OCP in advance of the Public Hearing
- Public Hearing on April 22 at 3:00 pm at Delta City Hall
As per Local Government Act requirements, the OCP was shared with the Agricultural Land Commission for comment to confirm compliance with the Agricultural Land Commission Act and following the Public Hearing, Council referred the OCP to Metro Vancouver for formal review and consideration of the Regional Context Statement. Once these statutory reviews were completed, the OCP was presented to Council for final consideration and adoption.

The addition of housing mandated by the Province and guided by the OCP and Zoning Bylaw will lead to changes in Delta neighbourhoods. The OCP engagement program helped the City ensure residents were aware of the mandate to add housing and had the opportunity to share their ideas on how the City can grow successfully. The City prepared a Community Engagement Report of the activities undertaken to consult the community and what was heard through the process. Results were reviewed by staff and considered in developing the proposed 2024 OCP. Generally, feedback was considered based on the following themes:

Delta is a community that is deeply invested in the future of their neighbourhoods, reflecting hopes for a balanced and thoughtful approach to development. They understand the need for growth and recognize that greater density is necessary. While there is some support and some opposition to the proposed plans to manage growth, most are cautious.
How it was addressed:
- Areas to support new growth were identified and chosen given their proximity to services, transportation and daily needs.
The proposed OCP allows for greater development opportunities in all urban areas of Delta, for new homes to be built.
Engaged residents agree that growth should be focused in areas where infrastructure, such as water, sewer, and roads, can be easily expanded or are already in place. They want to feel confident that these services will remain reliable for all residents and would like more information about planned and future investments including funding.
How it was addressed:
- Utilities capacities (e.g., water, sewer) were a key consideration in identifying areas for growth. All areas identified in the Land Use Designation Map for new townhouse or apartment opportunities are supported by existing infrastructure or have the ability to support capacity with future capital program upgrades.
- Policies were incorporated to undertake neighbourhood-level servicing plans to identify sewer and water system upgrades required to support development, while considering climate change impacts.
Engaged residents indicated that traffic and congestion are an issue already and want to understand how these issues will be alleviated or managed with further growth. There is a strong desire for improved transit and traffic management solutions to reduce congestion, improve safety, and support a more active, mobile, and accessible community.
How it was addressed:
- The OCP identifies a need to undertake neighbourhood servicing plans to support growth and improve vehicular circulation considering development and the unique context of Delta’s communities.
- The OCP strongly supports improving active transportation infrastructure and linkages across the City, while also reinforcing the Cycling Master Plan.
- The OCP contains a policy related to working with TransLink to improve transit service. Access to transit was a key consideration in identifying areas for growth.
- Areas identified in the Land Use Designation Map for new townhouse or apartment opportunities have good proximity to transit.
- Outside of the OCP, the City assesses the traffic impacts of new developments on an ongoing basis by requiring detailed traffic impact assessment as part of major development applications. The City also advocates to TransLink for transit improvements.
Engaged residents believe government services are strained and want to understand how provincial and regional services, such as health care, education, and City services – especially recreational amenities – will keep pace with growth.
How it was addressed:
- New OCP policies supporting child care and updated policies regarding collaboration with Delta School District.
- Updated policies have been incorporated regarding the provision of parks, recreation, and cultural facilities to support growth.
- While services like health care and schools are beyond the City’s jurisdiction, staff consulted and shared growth projections with the Delta School District and Fraser Health in developing the OCP. The Delta School District indicated that, with efficient enrollment planning, they anticipate the expected increase in enrollment enabled through the updated OCP can be accommodated. Additionally, outside of the OCP, the City works with the Delta School District to assess the school enrollment impacts of new developments on an ongoing basis as part of development applications.
Engaged residents hope for a range of housing options that accommodate the diverse needs of young families, seniors, and all residents, fostering a vibrant and inclusive community. They want to understand how the OCP will support affordability.
How it was addressed:
- The OCP integrates work and community feedback provided as part of the Housing Action Plan. These actions focus on increasing housing diversity and achieving needed forms of housing including rental, non-market, housing for families, housing for seniors, and housing for people with mobility, accessibility, and other needs.
- The OCP introduces a policy to explore rental tenure zoning to secure rental housing.
- The Land Use Designation Map allows for increased townhouse and apartment opportunities, and enables small-scale multi-unit housing in traditionally single-detached neighbourhoods. This will help more diverse housing forms and greater supply to be developed, which is an important component of making housing more attainable.
- A new policy to achieve rental and non-market housing was added: rental and non-market housing contributions will be encouraged in all projects within Urban Centre or Scott Road Corridor designations for buildings over 6 storeys and will be expected for projects that include buildings that are 18 storeys or higher.
Engaged residents value the natural environment highly and want to see the preservation of parks and green spaces, recognizing the importance of the natural environment for the well-being and identity of the community.
How it was addressed:
- The OCP contains updated policies for protecting natural and environmental spaces, including areas where they interface with development.
- The Conservation and Leisure designation combines environmentally sensitive areas, natural parks, and other green spaces for preservation.
- New policies were incorporated related to:
  Natural infrastructure corridor creation and restoration
  Birds and biodiversity
  Discouraging development in areas subject to unmitigated natural hazards
Engaged residents want to see development that respects and maintains the unique character and small-town feel of neighbourhoods. They also want to ensure growth enhances community livability.
How it was addressed:
- The updated Land Use Designations propose new opportunities for commercial and mixed uses throughout the City, which will help support livable neighbourhoods and urban centres where people can interact in safe and inviting spaces.
- Given the five-year timeframe, the Provincial Housing Target Order cannot be achieved with current proposals alone. The Provincial Housing Target Order is based on achieving occupancy and while some projects in the development approvals process may reach occupancy over the next five years, many will not.
- To meet the Provincial Housing Target Order, Delta must undertake a variety of initiatives such as a secondary suite program, allowing small-scale multi-unit residential, and increasing opportunities for townhomes and apartments. Delta will be evaluated not only on meeting the number of occupancy permits required, but also more broadly on all initiatives undertaken to improve housing diversity and increase supply.
- The OCP contains new Development Permit Area Guidelines for Tsawwassen Urban Centre that establish the objectives for the development of commercial, multi-unit residential, and mixed use buildings. They envision the Tsawwassen Urban Centre as a walkable, complete community where current and future residents can live, work, shop, play, and feel part of a well-connect and integrated community.
Participants want to ensure that resident input is carefully considered and many have commented about the pace of the process. Their experience with engagement is mostly with development proposals and many expressed concerns about past applications and want to ensure their continued involvement in future proposals.
How it was addressed:
- Residents will still have the opportunity to engage in public consultation for major development rezoning applications, as is the case today. Consistent with our current practices, major development applications will undergo community consultation where public feedback will be sought. For projects that require an OCP amendment, a Public Hearing will also be required.
Engaged residents had questions about what was proposed for their specific properties. Many are enthusiastic about adding suites or other housing options while others are concerned about how their neighbourhoods will be affected.
How it was addressed:
- Staff reviewed and considered all comments received about the draft Land Use Designation Map.
- For residential/mixed use areas, edits were incorporated where requested changes aligned with the approach to increasing townhouse and apartment opportunities in proximity to daily needs and transit. Some areas were not changed at this time, but staff will monitor development progress and consider additional areas to be designated for townhouse and apartment opportunities as part of future updates to the OCP.
- Many parks and small green spaces were added to the Civic and Institutional or Conservation and Leisure designations to ensure their preservation as parks and green spaces. Some of these parks and greenspaces are designated as residential in the current OCP and this has been updated to better reflect their existing and desired future use. Existing golf courses were added to the Conservation and Leisure designation, with a statement noting that new golf courses would not be permitted in these areas.
Engaged residents identified opportunities for Council to consider lobbying other levels of government on behalf of residents for projects and initiatives such as: advancing the tunnel replacement project and crossing at River Road, allowing more housing on farmland for families, allowing more than one suite in a home in the BC Building Code, addressing doctor shortages, advancing plans for transit, and providing long term water lot leases.
How it was addressed:
- While these are outside the scope of the OCP, these are important pieces of feedback ascertained by this project and were shared with relevant departments for additional consideration.