Central Okanagan needs 20,000 new homes in five years

Cities around the Central Okanagan have been figuring out how many homes they need to build to keep up with the rising demand, but the regional district has taken a step back to look at the bigger picture.

The Regional District of the Central Okanagan found that the area needs 19,696 housing units in the next five years and 63,922 over the next 20 years, according to its Regional Housing Needs Summary.

Kelowna needs the most homes with 13,863 over the next five years. West Kelowna needs 3,169, Lake Country needs 1,485, and the remaining homes need to be spread out between Peachland and rural areas.

The Central Okanagan’s population is expected to hit 260,000 by next year and 322,000 by 2041.

The provincial government brought in housing targets for many municipalities in 2023. Kelowna has so far surpassed the target by building 1,501 units between July 1 and Dec. 31 2024.

West Kelowna hasn’t made the same kind of progress, and that city council has been pushing back against the provincial mandate to rapidly build housing. Council has said building too many homes without the proper infrastructure to support the people who would move in is going to cause problems.

“I don’t like being bound by a housing target either, especially if it’s, ‘at all costs, just put housing in, because that’s what we’re telling you we need.’ There’s a way to do that sensitively,” councillor Stephen Johnston said during a council meeting in the spring.

The regional district’s report found that the Central Okanagan needs 985 units every five years to reduce the amount of people who spend more than 50 per cent of their monthly income on housing.

An additional 585 units every five years would help reduce homelessness and 165 units every five years would help maintain a healthy rental vacancy rate to reduce rent prices.

Kelowna has been steadily investing in tiny home projects to create units for homeless people like STEP Place, Trailside and the new Balsam Place. The total available units in all three tiny home projects is up to 179.

The district’s report doesn’t have any data for First Nations like Westbank First Nation and Okanagan Indian Band since they don’t submit housing data.

A positive trend in the numbers is the fact that benchmark prices for single family homes, townhouses and apartments have been steady since the fall.

Since October 2024, prices have hovered around $1.3 million for single family homes, $745,000 for townhouses and $511,000 for condos and apartments.

Benchmark prices are different from average prices. A benchmark price is the cost of a typical property in the area, rather than an average of all the properties since extremely expensive or cheap homes could skew the average.