The City of Nanaimo is launching a new initiative that explores pre-zoning land in certain areas, to accelerate the delivery of social housing, by removing the requirements for a rezoning. This initiative has been identified as a Council priority action in the Integrated Action Plan (Priority Action #69).

This initiative responds to challenges non-profit housing providers have with the timelines associated with rezonings, impacting their ability to secure funding. By streamlining the approval process, this initiative helps projects move forward more quickly.

This initiative is proposing to pre-zone land to allow for the development of social housing. Social housing is defined as:

Pre-zoning is a planning tool used by local governments to proactively change zoning to align with long-term land use plans, like City Plan, the City’s Official Community Plan. This means developments would not require a rezoning, but still be subject to development permit, works and services agreements and building permit approvals.

To pre-zone land to expedite the delivery of social housing, by removing the requirement for a rezoning, where social housing is provided. This initiative responds to a gap in the supply of affordable housing and the challenges non-profit housing providers have in securing fundings to build social housing. By removing the need for a rezoning, projects can move forward more quickly.

This initiative is optional, and incentive based. A property owner can develop under current zoning, or choose the pre-zoning option, where the following conditions are met.

The following outlines the proposed conditions that would need to be met to qualify for the Pre-Zoning for Social Housing initiative.

1. The property must be in the Urban Centre or Corridor ‘Future Land Use Designation’ in City Plan. An interactive map of the properties proposed to be pre-zoned can be viewed here.
2. 20% of the dwelling units on the property must be rental social housing units. The remaining units can be market rental and ownership dwelling units with commercial uses permitted on the ground floor.
3. The social housing units must be rented at a rate that is less than the average market rents for Nanaimo. For example as published by the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC).
4. All dwelling units (social and market units) on the property must be operated by a non-profit housing provider or government agency.
5. The capital costs of the development must be fully funded by any level of government.
6. A housing agreement must be registered on the title of the property to secure the pre-zoning conditions for 60-years.

An overlay zone is proposed with new development conditions such as building heights and densities. The intent of the overlay is to establish development conditions that are in line with City Plan policies for Urban Centre and Corridor Future Land Use Designation. This includes pre-zoning the density and/or height of parcels as follows:

Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is a zoning tool defining the relationship between a building's total floor area and the size of the land parcel, calculated by dividing the total floor area by the lot area. It is used to control development density.

This initiative responds to housing needs identified in the City of Nanaimo's Housing Needs Report (2024).