Port Alberni feeling the housing pinch as city grows [Video]

In Port Alberni, a small city of just under 20,000 people on central Vancouver Island, residents and the local government are feeling the pressure of a lack of housing stock that has seen prices for rent soar. 

An interim housing needs report presented to council in December outlines how much housing prices have accelerated since 2015, primarily driven by a lack of supply. Since 2020, the cost of a house has gone up 52 per cent, while rent prices have outpaced the average household income by 33 per cent. 

According to the report, Port Alberni needs over 1,200 units of housing in the next five years to meet the community’s growing needs. 

Scott Smith, Port Alberni’s director of development services, says the city and B.C. Housing will do their part, …