Our City, Our Homes

Project Update – August 8, 2025: Changes to housing regulations are coming to the City’s Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw! Click here to access the latest presentation and report from City staff.­ Check out all the ways to learn more below!

Please note, that the Council workshop presentation previously scheduled for June 2nd has been postponed. This page will be updated when a new date is set.

What’s Changing in Housing?

There are several bylaws and policy tools the City uses to enable housing development. Currently, the City is making updates to our Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw. These are the primary regulations for what type of housing (e.g. apartment, townhouse, or duplex) is allowed where, and what height and size they are allowed to be. The coming changes will impact many properties in New Westminster through one of the four initiatives described below:

	Transit Oriented Development Areas (TOD Areas) The Province has identified five TOD Areas in New Westminster at 22nd Street, New Westminster, Columbia, Sapperton, and Braid SkyTrain stations. These areas are now required to be designated for greater residential density. New Official Community Plan land use designations are proposed that would make these areas consistent with building heights enabled by the Province. Council will also consider expanding the edges of these areas to better transition between and within neighbourhood blocks. Whether or not these areas should also allow infill housing (duplexes to sixplexes) will also be considered by Council. It is important to keep in mind that, in most instances, a rezoning application and Council approval will still be required to permit the heights and densities envisioned. Visit the 2025 OCP Housing Update webpage to see maps of the edges and read the proposed new designations! Click here for more background on TOD Areas.
	Townhouses Today, townhouses are allowed in the city in limited locations and when approved by Council through a rezoning. In an effort to see more townhouses built, we’re exploring more locations and reduced development approvals processes. To do this, the townhouse land use designation would be applied to more areas of New Westminster, and some of those properties would be “pre-zoned”. This means that, for these properties, a rezoning to develop townhouses would not be required. “Pre-zoned” properties would continue to allow homeowners to live in, renovate, rent, or rebuild their houses, or sell their property. Alternatively, someone could seek to purchase and consolidate multiple properties in order to build townhouses. Visit the Townhouse webpage to see which properties are recommended to be designated or pre-zoned for townhouses!
	Infill Housing This initiative is exploring allowing multiplexes up to six units to be built on properties in the city that currently allow houses, secondary suites, laneway houses, and duplexes. This is in alignment with the intent of the Province’s Small Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) legislation. This initiative has a longer timeline than the others above, and is not scheduled to be completed until summer 2026. Visit the Infill Housing webpage to learn about the infill housing design principles, parking rates, and permit processes we’re exploring!
	Non-Profit Affordable Housing The goal of this initiative is to reduce barriers for non-profit housing providers seeking to create new affordable rental housing in the city. Two changes are proposed to support this goal. First, non-profit affordable rental housing up to six storeys would be considered on properties designated for townhouses by the Official Community Plan (see above). Second, TOD Areas (see top) properties would be “pre-zoned” to allow these types of projects without a rezoning application. Only projects owned and operated by a non-profit housing provider (among other conditions) would qualify.

Visit the Affordable Housing webpage to learn more about the proposed conditions, property locations, and reduced approvals processes!

Why Change and Why Now?

Governments of all levels across Canada are working to tackle the housing crisis. Here in New Westminster, the City is continuing to advance Council’s Strategic Priorities Plan to clear the way for all types of new homes needed today and in the future. Together, we are working hard towards more and better housing for all. These changes to housing are being considered alongside several other long-term amenity and servicing plans such as for Parks and Recreation and the Electrical Utility.

Several of the above initiatives are part of the City’s participation in the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund. The Province of British Columbia has also made significant changes to housing legislation, impacting how local governments operate when it comes to reviewing development applications. The City is required to meet timelines related to both. Learn more how senior government is shaping housing in our city by clicking through the links.

Right now, the City is not making changes to housing regulations in Queensborough because more research is needed on infrastructure like water and sewer systems to see if the area can support more housing. The Province has given the City an extension until May 2029 to complete this research before making any decisions. The City will consult with residents before any changes in Queensborough are finalized.

How Did Community Shape the Change?

Overall, the changes are directed by Council’s Strategic Priorities Plan. However, some of the changes are required by legislation or the City’s participation in a funding program. The City connected with residents to help understand how changes could best reflect the community’s values and our physical context. To do so, staff worked to identify areas in each housing initiative where community input could shape the outcomes.

Feedback was gathered through a Council endorsed Public Engagement Program, which included surveys and open houses. To learn about “what we heard”, you can:

• scroll to the bottom of this page for a quick summary (in the Engagement Summary tab),
• take a look at a two-page “snapshot” of the engagement program,
• read the full Engagement Summary Report, which includes demographics and a breakdown of each question asked, or
• review all the verbatim comments collected through the process.

The suggestions, feedback, and comments received have been analyzed and combined with legal and technical requirements in order to create the draft policy. Council is presented with this analysis when making direction setting decisions.

What's Next?

The draft housing policy and bylaw changes will be presented to Council at a workshop. There are still some key questions remaining that need Council’s direction. Once the direction is set, bylaws will be prepared to enable the changes. Council must give the bylaws four readings and hold a Public Hearing before they are in effect. See the Timeline on this page for more on next steps.