Housing Needs Report: What Council Said - and What Residents Should Understand

At a recent council meeting Dec 15th, Village representatives responded to concerns raised about Harrison Hot Springs’ Housing Needs Report (HNR). Council stated that the report is provincially mandated, uses a provincially sanctioned methodology, and focuses only on identifying housing unit numbers - not land use, zoning, affordability, or infrastructure.

While these statements are partially accurate, they leave out important context.

What the Housing Needs Report Actually Is

The Housing Needs Report is a statutory requirement under provincial legislation. Municipalities must prepare it using the Province’s Housing Needs Calculator, which applies standardized inputs to estimate 5-year and 20-year unit counts.

This calculator:

  • Uses provincial formulas

  • Relies heavily on census data and assumptions

  • Produces numeric unit targets only

It does not:

  • Analyze where housing should be built

  • Assess affordability or income distribution in depth

  • Examine land-use capacity

  • Evaluate infrastructure limits

  • Model environmental or hazard constraints

  • Replace professional planning judgment

In other words, the HNR is a starting point, not a complete planning analysis.

What Council Confirmed (Unintentionally)

In their response, Council confirmed several key facts:

  • The report focuses on unit counts only

  • It does not address land use, zoning, or location

  • It does not assess infrastructure capacity

  • It relies on a provincial calculator, not local modelling

  • Broader planning decisions are deferred to other documents

These confirmations matter, because zoning and density changes are being discussed using the HNR as justification.

Why Authorship and Methodology Still Matter

Council suggested that authorship is irrelevant because the report was adopted. That position misunderstands how evidence-based planning works.

Professional Housing Needs Reports elsewhere in BC typically:

  • Are prepared or signed by certified planners (RPP/MCIP)

  • Clearly document assumptions and limitations

  • Include local demographic analysis

  • Explain how projections interact with local constraints

Harrison’s report lists no author, no credentials, and no professional sign-off. Adoption does not change that.

Why This Matters for Residents

Using a narrow, templated HNR to justify broad zoning changes risks:

  • Overestimating what the community can support

  • Ignoring infrastructure and service limits

  • Treating provincial minimum compliance as maximum local obligation

  • Conflating “housing need” with “where and how development must occur”

The Province does not dictate zoning outcomes. Those decisions remain local - and they require more than a calculator output.

Bottom Line

Council’s response confirms that Harrison’s Housing Needs Report:

  • Is a limited, provincially templated document

  • Identifies unit numbers only

  • Does not direct zoning, density, or location

  • Does not evaluate infrastructure or affordability

  • Is not a substitute for comprehensive planning analysis

Residents deserve clarity about what this report can - and cannot - legitimately be used for.