Vernon Matters file photo

By Liam Verster

Housing Construction Initiative

Vernon, Coldstream, others to be assigned provincial housing targets

May 30, 2025 | 6:00 AM

The B.C. Government has called its housing target initiative a success, and will be expanding it to Vernon, Coldstream, and other area municipalities.

Launched in 2023 and expanded in 2024, the Housing Supply Act put housing construction targets on 30 municipalities throughout B.C., which have led to 16,130 net new homes being built across the province. Those included 1,501 new homes in Kelowna, and 64 new units built in West Kelowna over the past year.

“I appreciate that these communities in the next group are already making progress in building more housing for people. Setting housing targets allows us to further align with our broader goals as a province,” Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, said.

“As we add new communities to the housing targets program to keep up with demand, we will continue to work together with municipalities to make sure more people can find homes that fit their needs and budgets. We’re also delivering real results – more than 16,000 homes have now been built through housing targets and thousands more are on the way.”

The program will expand to 12 new communities in 2025, including Vernon, Coldstream, Salmon Arm, Summerland, Peachland, and Penticton.

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The province said local governments will be consulted to determine their housing target, though noted it should amount to 75 per cent of each municipality’s housing need.