The Municipality of North Cowichan will receive $100,000 from the province to create more efficient development approvals processes for the building of new homes.
North Cowichan is among 38 local governments in B.C. that are receiving grants totalling $4.4 million in 2024 from the Local Government Development Approvals Program to help them speed up the construction of new homes.
"We're leaving no stone unturned in our work to deliver more homes for people, faster," said Ravi Kahlon, minister of Housing.
"The Local Government Development Approvals Program was created so that local governments can improve the internal processes and development approvals, so that we can speed up the delivery of homes for people living and working in B.C."
The funding program, which is being administered through the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, was created to help local governments implement best practices and develop innovative ways to support non-profit housing organizations, developers and other stakeholders to speed up the delivery of homes.
North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said the municipality had already identified process times for building applications for homes as an area where improvements can be made, and work is underway to deal with that.
"We know we need to increase the housing inventory in North Cowichan, so streamlining the application process will make a big difference," he said.
"We'll see those changes in the coming months."
Anne Kang, Minister of Municipal Affairs added that the province continues to grow with more people than ever before choosing to call B.C. home.
"We're continuing to support local governments' ability to move forward with housing, and this grant funding will help new homes get built faster and more efficiently throughout the province for many years to come," she said
The program was open to all municipalities, regional districts and the Islands Trust.
"Local governments throughout B.C. have been implementing changes to streamline development-approvals processes to address community-building goals," said Trish Mandewo, president of the UBCM.
"This funding will help catalyze that work and support local governments as they implement best practices related to permit approvals, inspections and more."