Port Alberni feeling the housing pinch as city grows

In Port Alberni, a small city of just under 20,000 people on central Vancouver Island, residents and the local government are feeling the pressure of a lack of housing stock that has seen prices for rent soar. 

An interim housing needs report presented to council in December outlines how much housing prices have accelerated since 2015, primarily driven by a lack of supply. Since 2020, the cost of a house has gone up 52 per cent, while rent prices have outpaced the average household income by 33 per cent. 

According to the report, Port Alberni needs over 1,200 units of housing in the next five years to meet the community's growing needs. 

Scott Smith, Port Alberni's director of development services, says the city and B.C. Housing will do their part, but primarily, the houses need to be built through the private market. 

"That is a large number of new housing units of varying types for our community," said Smith. 

"We need to have good policy about where that can go, what type of housing that can look like, and show how that can be enabled in our community."

Smith says the city will undertake a review of its Official Community Plan this year — a provincial requirement every five years. He says it presents an opportunity for the city to outline a long-term strategy on what kind of housing is needed and where, which will inform the city's approach to zoning. 

He says a few hundred multi-family units have been built since 2022, but it hasn't been enough to keep up with Port Alberni's growing population.

Finding solutions 

While the city works on zoning to facilitate more housing, Smith says, community partners in the market have to step up and actually do the building.

The Port Alberni Low Energy Housing Society (PALEHS) says it believes it has a solution.

In 2022, the society says it opened the doors to the newly built Maitland Street Village, a mid-density building that offers affordable housing with three tiers of rent and award-winning energy efficiency.

 Mike Rattan, who chairs the PALEHS, says they're itching to build more — but there's just one problem — finding the land they need.

"The city needs to be open to sharing some of the land that it owns so that buildings like this can be built there," said Rattan. 

"I'm not even suggesting for a second that they give us the land or that they sell the land. It makes more sense to actually lease the land so that the city retains ownership. But we can turn it into its best use, at least its best use for right now." 

Smith says it's something the Official Community Plan will tackle.

"There's a myriad of housing policies that will be needed in that OCP to show how we can enable that level of housing and the various housing options," said Smith. 

First Nations have also stepped up in recent years to build housing.

The Ahousaht First Nation broke ground early last year on a complex that would house 35 Ahousaht families who live in Port Alberni. The Tseshaht First Nation has also purchased land for off-reserve housing in Port Alberni. 

Smith says the more partners, the better. 

"It's great to see First Nations become more involved in developing housing, and they're looking at housing, not just for their own members, but also for the community at large."

WATCH | Port Alberni residents feeling housing squeeze: 

Port Alberni, B.C., residents struggle to find housing as city grows

14 hours ago

Duration 2:35

In the Vancouver Island city of Port Alberni, many are struggling to find a place to live. As Claire Palmer reports, a lack of housing in the city, coupled with more people moving to the area, is causing a crunch and leading to spiking rent prices.