What counts toward a BC housing target?

The rule is printed on the report form municipalities have to use, in one sentence:

Net new units are calculated as completions (occupancy permits issued) minus demolitions. Legalizing existing unpermitted secondary suites or other housing types does not count toward completions.¹

Three things follow from that, and each one surprises somebody.

Starts do not count, and neither do approvals. The trigger is the occupancy permit. A building that broke ground inside the reporting period and is not yet occupied contributes nothing to the number, however large it is. Rezonings, development permits and building permits are recorded separately on the form, under approved applications, and are not part of the target figure.¹

Demolitions come off. A project that replaces existing units only counts for the difference. Port Coquitlam's Year 1 report records 221 completions and 30 demolitions, so 191 net new units.¹

Legalizing an existing suite counts for nothing. The unit already existed as housing, so bringing it onto the books does not move the target, even though it moves the municipality's legal housing stock.

What the target itself is

Targets are cumulative, not annual, which is the second thing people get wrong. Port Coquitlam's order sets a five-year target of 2,279 units, described as 75% of the Provincial Housing Needs Estimate for the municipality, and then sets cumulative checkpoints: 343 by the end of Year 1, 724 by the end of Year 2.²

So a shortfall does not reset. Port Coquitlam's 191 net new units against a 343-unit Year 1 checkpoint leaves the gap sitting inside the Year 2 number as well.

Why a builder should care about the counting rule

If your building received its occupancy permit inside the reporting window, it belongs in Section 2 of that municipality's report. The figures are assembled by municipal staff from their own systems, and the report is a public document that goes to council before it goes to the Province. If your completions are missing from it, that is worth raising while the report is still on the agenda.