Islands Trust Housing Needs Assessment 2025

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April 2025 
 
 
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ISLANDS TRUST   
Housing Needs Assessment   
                     

 
 
 
 
 
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Prepared for: 
Islands Trust 
4 – 121 McPhillips Ave 
Salt Spring Island 
Date: 
April 2025 
 
Prepared by: 
Urbanics Consultants Ltd. 
2368-666 Burrard Street 
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6C 2X8  
 
ISLANDS TRUST 
Housing Needs Assessment  
British Columbia 

 
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Executive Summary    
The Islands Trust Housing Needs Assessment was prepared by Urbanics 
Consultants Ltd. Housing needs have been assessed for each of the  Trust areas 
participating, including all areas except Bowen Island. This report aims to 
provide a comprehensive analysis of housing needs in the Islands Trust Areas.  
The study is undertaken to meet the requirements of the British Columbia 
Housing Needs Assessment regulations, using the methodology provided by 
the Province in the summer of 2024 
Key Findings 
 
5-YEAR 
PROJECTION 
20-YEAR 
PROJECTION 
BALLENAS-
WINCHELSEA 
0 0 
DENMAN  
109 359 
GABRIOLA 
367 1,196 
GALIANO 
132 426 
GAMBIER 
27 83 
HORNBY 
102 339 
LASQUETI 
55 156 
MAYNE 
110 330 
NORTH PENDER 
208 643 
SALT SPRING 
821 2525 
SATURNA 
44 143 
SOUTH PENDER 
24 75 
THETIS 
29 86 
STUDY AREA TOTAL 2,028 6,361 
The key findings are the assessed housing needs of each area under study, 
including housing needed to address deficits in homelessness, households 
experiencing extreme unaffordability (Extreme Core Housing Need), projected 
population changes, achieving a healthy rental vacancy rate, as well as a 
buffering ‘demand factor’ provided by the province for municipalities. These 
projections provide a province-wide comparison of housing needs for all 

 
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regions and municipalities. In the case of subject Islands Trust Areas, the total 
is 6,361 units between 2021 and 2041. 
This housing need is primarily driven by population growth projections, based 
on the Province’s projections on fertility, mortality, in-migration, out-migration 
and household formation over the coming decades for regional districts.  
While these projects are based on apportionment of regional districts down to 
island values, an alternate population projection has been provided in Section 
4 based on more fine-grained demographic analysis.   
The report additionally includes information assembled with the assistance of 
the Islands Trust on efforts to implement the findings of the previous housing 
needs assessment, key areas of housing need for seniors, renters, families, 
affordability, homelessness and near-homelessness and those with special 
needs, as well as information on the benefits of having housing near 
transportation infrastructure that supports walking, bicycling, public transit, 
and other alternative modes of transportation. 
  

 
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Table 1:  Housi

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