What is Family-Friendly Housing?
Family-friendly housing refers to housing designed to meet the needs of households with children. This can include homes with a suitable number of bedrooms, ample storage, access to outdoor space and amenities, and locations close to schools, childcare, parks, transit, and everyday services. While the focus of family-friendly housing is to help make high-density living functional, fulfilling, and desirable for families, it can also benefit seniors, multigenerational households, caregivers, and others whose housing needs are not always being met.
Why is Family-Friendly Housing Important?
In the District of Saanich, family-friendly housing is increasingly out of reach for families, and those looking to start families. As noted in the District’s Housing Needs Report, when suitable housing is not available or affordable, families may have to consider leaving their community, and people who wish to start families may be delayed or unable to do so. Family-friendly housing helps support a complete, inclusive community, where people at different stages of life can find suitable homes.
What is the District Doing to Support Family-Friendly Housing?
Across the District's Official Community Plan (OCP), Housing Strategy, Zoning Bylaw, and Development Permit Area Guidelines (DPAG) there are various policies and regulations aimed at supporting housing that is suitable for families; some examples include:
Encouraging larger units
- The Official Community Plan encourages new multi-unit residential developments to contain a minimum of 30% units with two-bedroom or larger units, with at least 10% of all units containing three or more bedrooms (OCP Policy 8.4.4)
Setting a minimum dwelling unit size
- The Zoning Bylaw requires all new dwelling units to be a minimum of 33 m2 (Zoning Bylaw Section 5.43)
Encouraging amenity areas
- The development permit guidelines encourage new residential buildings to include outdoor common amenity spaces for residents to enjoy (DPAG 4.2.1.D)
Family-Friendly Housing Study
The Housing section of the Official Community Plan provides direction for the District to undertake a family-friendly housing study to evaluate existing policies and identify new ways to ensure that households with children have access to suitable housing, childcare facilities, schools, parks, and other supports that make Saanich a desirable place for families to live. The study is currently underway. More information will be posted on this webpage as the study progresses, and residents are encouraged to check back for updates.
Family-Friendly Housing in other Communities
Municipalities in the region and across British Columbia have introduced policies to support family-friendly housing. The following links provide additional information and examples of family-friendly housing initiatives in other communities:
City of Vancouver: Diversifying Housing Options for all Households
City of Coquitlam: Housing for Families
City of New Westminster: Family Friendly Housing Policy
City of Victoria: Housing for Families