A new report shows Kamloops has missed its first year housing targets laid out by the provincial government by a substantial margin.

The latest figures show there were 466 new units created in Kamloops from October 1st of 2023 to the start of last month, with 13 demolitions during that period, leaving Kamloops with a net gain of 449.

This is well below the 679 unit minimum target which the province had required Kamloops to build and have occupied in the first year, a miss of over 30 percent.

It contradicts an earlier report issued by the City in May, which suggested there was a likelihood the full-year targets for Kamloops could be achieved.

City of Kamloops Current Planning Manager Eric Beech says part of challenge over the course of the first year, which ran from October 1st, 2023 to October 1st, 2024, was high interest rates.

“We lay the ground work to get units built. Your zoning changes, development permits and issuing new building permits. We don’t physically construct units,” he noted.

He suggests another the reason is the metrics used by Victoria.

“It’s a unit that’s actually has final occupancy and someone is living in it,” noted Beech.  “We have a lot of units that are getting constructed, but haven’t received final occupancy yet.”

With other communities on the initial list of 10 communities in BC also coming up short, Beech suggests a fundamental review of how the process unfolds could be in order.

“If everyone is not meeting the targets, maybe they have to go back and look back at the actual orders that they gave, and maybe tweak those to look at more permits issued, versus occupied,” suggested Beech.

Under the legislation, the province does have the ability to step in and take control of the a city’s planning department if it feels not enough action has been taken.

However, former Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon had suggested an extreme step like that would be unlikely, saying the biggest concern was establishing fundamental changes in communities to ensure they’re promoting the development of new homes at an increased pace.