Column: Vancouver Island needs housing for the workers its communities rely on

Column: Vancouver Island needs housing for the workers its communities rely on

Published 2:30 pm Sunday, October 18, 2026

Everyone wants a nurse on call when their chest hurts. The argument begins when that nurse needs an apartment down the street.

Vancouver Island faces a contradiction between the public services residents expect and the housing they will accommodate.

We want staffed emergency departments, available daycare spaces, reliable home support for seniors and businesses that stay open. Those expectations require people. Those people need somewhere to live.

Yet propose apartments or townhouses in an established neighbourhood and the debate shifts to parking, building height and neighbourhood character.

Existing residents have valid concerns. Watersheds matter. Trees matter. Infrastructure has limits. Some sites cannot support the development proposed for them.

But protecting a watershed and protecting a view are different arguments. Councils must distinguish between them.

They must also answer a question too often missing from the debate: Where should the workers we depend on live?

“Somewhere else” is a poor foundation for a functioning community.

Higher wages and better regional transit belong in the discussion. Neither replaces the need for homes near workplaces. A care aide finishing a midnight shift gains little from a bus route that stops running before the shift ends.

That care aide needs a home within a reasonable journey of work, at a price their wages can support. So does the mechanic, the early childhood educator caring for your grandchild and the cook preparing your dinner.

They have a stake in the community whether or not they own property there.

B.C. already requires municipalities to plan and zone for 20 years of housing need. Communities with provincial housing targets must report their progress.

That accountability should reach the council table.

When council rejects a housing proposal consistent with its official community plan, it should explain what the decision means for meeting local housing needs.

Put the number of proposed homes on the public record. Explain whether the site can still deliver them and how the community expects to meet its commitments. Track those decisions so residents can judge the results.

Rejecting a project does not necessarily erase its permitted housing capacity. But homes allowed on paper do not house anyone.

Expensive condominiums alone will not solve staffing shortages. Vancouver Island needs modest apartments, non-profit housing and townhouses that people earning local wages can afford.

Preserving a neighbourhood’s character means making room for the people who keep it running. Its future depends on accommodating another generation.

When the next housing proposal comes before council, ask about traffic, infrastructure and design.

Then ask where the staff at your hospital, daycare and grocery store are supposed to live.

Anyone calling for rejection owes the community an answer.

Kevin Laird is an editor with Black Press Media.