Bujtas called the new investment \u201ca good start,\u201d but said he has asked the federal and provincial governments for details on how much Terrace would receive and what the funding can be used for. He said the announcement appeared to include infrastructure such as water, rather than specifically housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Terrace received half of the $50 million spread over five years, Bujtas said it would help, but even that would not be enough to prepare the city for the scale of growth expected around it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe needed an investment yesterday,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t need it five years from now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/screenshot_2026-07-07_at_4.41.21_pm.png\" "\\"Prime")
Prime Minister Mark Carney and BC Premier David Eby signed a multi-billion-dollar agreement in Vancouver on July 2, 2026, aimed at accelerating major energy, trade and infrastructure projects across the province. Photo by Province of BC\/Flickr.<\/p>\n
Terrace is already feeling housing pressure. Previous projects have already driven up housing and construction costs and the concern now is that the next wave of development is arriving before the city has the homes, infrastructure or staff capacity to absorb it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got a community of 13,000 people being asked to carry the weight of a nation on their backs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Growth without enough homes<\/p>\n
Terrace is where much of northwest BC\u2019s industrial growth touches down. Workers moving to mines, LNG sites, transmission projects and port-related jobs often pass through its airport, stay in its rentals and rely on its roads, stores, health-care services and child care.<\/p>\n
Despite adding about 800 housing units over the past 12 years, Bujtas said the city has not been able to keep pace with demand. Its vacancy rate has remained \u201cnext to zero,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A 2025 city report identified 131 people experiencing homelessness in Terrace \u2014 more per capita than either Victoria or Vancouver \u2014 but locals say the figure is likely an undercount because many people are couch surfing, staying with relatives or living in vehicles.<\/p>\n
Bujtas said Terrace is surrounded by industrial growth, including projects tied to Red Chris and Brucejack \u2014 two major copper and gold mines \u2014 but many projects sit outside the city\u2019s municipal boundaries. He pointed to Kitimat, about 60 kilometres south of Terrace, which hosts LNG Canada and Rio Tinto and has an industrial tax base Terrace does not. As a result, Terrace is left absorbing higher construction costs, road use and housing pressure tied to regional growth without benefitting from the same revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bujtas is seeing businesses struggling to hire workers for entry-level jobs because people cannot afford to live in the city. \u201cPeople that have jobs that are what you would want to consider \u2018career jobs\u2019 are taking second jobs just to make sure they can pay rent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Prince Rupert, a coastal city of about 12,000, is facing similar pressure as port activity expands. Its port was the saving grace of the town; Mayor Herb Pond said following job losses in fishing, logging, pulp and sawmills in the early 2000s, the city began to recover after a container terminal opened in 2007. Many residents support growth and remember the years when the city was losing people and industry.<\/p>\n
But he said the housing market is being pulled apart by the same economic recovery governments are celebrating.<\/p>\n
Construction workers often arrive with money in their pockets, willing to pay more for short-term rentals, he said. Several workers may rent one house together. Industrial workers in higher-paying jobs can compete for housing in ways lower-paid residents cannot. \u201cIf you are in one of those big jobs, you\u2019ve got opportunities,\u201d Pond said. \u201cBut if you\u2019re not, you\u2019re being sort of dragged along.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/53696803348_706b4927e4_4k.jpg\" "\\"Prince")
Prince Rupert\u2019s waterfront. Photo by Dennis Sylvester Hurd \/ Flickr, CC0.<\/p>\n
Pond said LNG Canada\u2019s project in Kitimat went through an environmental assessment process in which housing impacts were considered. Prince Rupert\u2019s port growth has not come with the same kind of housing obligations attached to individual projects, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been no onus on the companies to provide housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018The definition of poverty has changed\u2019<\/p>\n
The housing shortage is also affecting recruitment. In health care, administrators have told Pond applicants for essential jobs have turned down offers after looking for homes in Prince Rupert.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re trying to attract people into industrial jobs but your emergency room is closed because you can\u2019t attract doctors,\u201d Pond said. \u201cRather than just having housing as a challenge, you\u2019ve got housing and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pipeline of future health-care workers faces the same problem. Ankur Patel, a Kitimat resident training for a career in nursing in Terrace, said students preparing for health-care jobs in the region often have to move between communities for school and placements, paying for housing in more than one place while also covering travel, food and course costs. As a result, many young people are pulled towards urban centers where housing is more affordable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s real damn expensive, and costs are rising,\u201d Patel said. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to be educated up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul Lagace, who specializes in tenancy and poverty law, said Prince Rupert\u2019s housing crisis is no longer limited to people traditionally understood as vulnerable. \u201cPoverty has expanded into the working class,\u201d he said. \u201cThe nature, the definition, of poverty has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said renters who have lived in the same place for years may still have manageable rent. But once a building sells or a tenant is pushed back into the market, the cost can double.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/53590221951_551c03893f_k.jpg\" "\\"BC")
BC Premier David Eby announces regional infrastructure funding for northwest BC on March 15, 2024. The agreement is meant to help communities manage growth tied to major industrial development. Photo by Province of BC\/Flickr.<\/p>\n