Vernon Mayor confident in ability to hit housing target

Sep 3, 2025 | 1:08 PM

The City of Vernon has been issued a provincial housing target, which the mayor says is achievable.

In August, the province set a goal of having 1,829 new housing units built in Vernon within the next five years.

Mayor Victor Cumming told Vernon Matters that the target was a fair one and aligned with the Housing Need Assessment findings last fall.

“We have been working with the province on these targets,” Cumming explained.

“These targets are expected by ourselves, in terms of what we see for the City of Vernon. It starts small and grows on an annual basis, in terms of trying to meet the targets.

Council grants

Vernon to distribute over $50k in Council Discretionary Grants, $20K to the food bank

2h ago

Possible firearm involved

One person apprehended in connection with suspicious activity in Coldstream

Dec 13, 2025

Fatal Collision, Highway Closed

One person dead in crash near Revelstoke

Dec 13, 2025

“These are provincial targets. We’re pretty comfortable with them as they sit now, in future years, I think there’s going to be a significant challenge to meet them.”

The Mayor noted that municipalities don’t build housing, but there is a mutual want to have more housing built locally, and steps are being taken to make that a reality.

“What we do is we set the table for successful development,” Cumming told Vernon Matters.

“We make sure the zoning’s in place, we make sure the infrastructure is in place, and we make sure we have the process for those that want to build them as efficient as possible. That’s our role in getting housing built in our municipality.”

As of July 31, Canada Mortgage and Housing Association had reported that 120 new housing projects had been started in Vernon in 2025, less than half that may be required to be started in the same period over the coming years to meet the provincial housing target.

Cumming said there were “outside economic factors” impacting the development sector this year, which were beyond the city’s ability to mitigate, but said the city was working to speed up the development process and support the not-for-profit sector in their work to build more homes. He added the province would also be required to take steps to address these issues by increasing funding through B.C. Housing and other programs to support new home construction.

“I’m optimistic that Vernon will be a place that people choose to invest, and I’m optimistic that the province will be able to come through with significant investments for the non-market housing,” the Mayor said.

“That combination, I think, will enable us to reach targets.”

Cumming also told Vernon Matters that there will be a focus to support more infill, multi-unit homes and apartment buildings within the municipal boundaries, though there will still be room for more single family homes as well. He also noted that the city’s vacancy rate remains very low, hovering around the one per cent mark, and that having these new units come online over the coming years could help raise that rate up and drive rents down.

The province recommended that of the 1,849 units set out in the target, 593 of them should be “Below Market” rentals, though that was not a requirement as per the program.

by Liam Verster

View Comments