BC’s Housing Minister is tentatively pleased with word the City of Kamloops is expected to hit the housing targets his ministry is forcing on it.

The City’s Development Department — in the 6th month update it’s going to provide the province — notes just over 300 new units have come online, putting Kamloops on-track to hit its first, full year target of 679 new units.

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says he’s going to wait for that report to see for himself how Kamloops is doing.

“Hearing that Kamloops is getting more optimistic is great news,” said Kahlon in an interview with Radio NL.  “To be honest, our teams have been working with the staff at Kamloops [city hall], who have been doing really good work.”

Kahlon says the Ministry is trying to provide the tools Kamloops and the other 19 cities in BC under housing targets need to achieve them.

“Our legislation around transit and having housing being built around transit, allowing three or four units on single-family lots… all of those things are actually helping communities to be able to get to their targets. Without that, there’s no way,” argues Kahlon.  “The biggest ask right now of local governments is when they’re setting their rules around three and four units, that they use our site standard document, which sets out parking, heights, setbacks.”

The City of Kamloops — at the start of this year — had projected it would fall short of its first year goals by about 20 percent.

However, local demand and changes in zoning to allow for multi-family units on single-family lots are being cited as reason for the upswing in optimism.