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2025 OCP Housing Update

Two Public Hearings for the City’s Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendments have been scheduled for January 26, at 6:00 pm. These Public Hearings are the final step in the process required to implement Transit Oriented Development Areas, the Townhouse Program, and the Non-Profit Affordable Housing initiative.

The Official Community Plan (OCP) provides the vision, goals and policies for New Westminster that guide decisions on planning and land use management. It includes land use designations, development permit area guidelines, and policy initiatives and strategies. Click here to view the current Plan and learn more about how it works.

The City is making updates to the OCP, with a focus on housing. This work, completed through the Our City, Our Homes initiative, is focused on updates aimed to enable well-located homes that meet the diverse housing needs of our growing community.

Learn more about how we're encouraging new housing! The video below introduce New Westminster's four new housing programs.

 

Learn more about each of the programs below:

1. Transit Oriented Development Areas and Provincial Housing Legislation Implementation

The OCP is being updated to align with new provincial housing legislation by integrating the City’s Interim Housing Needs Report and Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Areas.

2. Townhouse Accelerator Program

A Townhouse Accelerator Program is underway to encourage townhouse developments in certain areas of the city to increase ground-oriented family friendly housing choice. Additional updates include allowing for the Affordable Housing Accelerator Zoning within Townhouse designated areas.

3. Affordable Housing Accelerator

An initiative is underway to make it easier for non-profit housing providers to build the affordable housing that our community needs, when the right conditions are met.

4. Infill Housing Accelerator Program

An Infill Housing Accelerator Program is underway to explore pre-zoning to permit up to six units of infill housing (such as duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes) on single detached dwelling properties across most of the city.

5. Additional OCP Updates (2026)

Additional OCP updates will be explored. This includes the integration of the 22nd Station Transit Oriented Development Area, the creation of a New Regional Context Statement, implementation of a Frequent Transit Development Area and implementing Climate Action Strategies and Targets into the OCP.

How Do I Participate? 

Two Public Hearings for the City’s Official Community Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendments have been scheduled for January 26, at 6:00 pm. These Public Hearings are the final step in the process required to implement Transit Oriented Development Areas, the Townhouse Program and the Non-Profit Affordable Housing initiative.

Community members are invited to provide their feedback on these bylaw changes to Council for their consideration. More information on the multiple ways to provide feedback will be posted here on January 16, 2026.

The changes proposed were directed by Council’s Strategic Priorities Plan, with some programs required by provincial legislation or connected to our participation in a funding program. Staff have engaged with residents to understand how these changes might best reflect the community’s values and our city’s physical context. People’s suggestions, feedback, and comments have been analyzed and combined with legal and technical requirements to create the proposed bylaw changes.

Click here for a two page “snapshot” of what we heard from you! To see the full Engagement Summary Report which includes demographics and a breakdown of each question asked click here. Visit the Our City, Our Homes Be Heard page to learn more about past community engagement related to this project including event materials.