A commentary by a James Bay resident and former public ­servant.

The B.C. New Democratic Party, or as many frustrated residents now call them, the “Newly ­Autocratic Party,” needs to rethink its approach to solving our ­housing affordability crisis.

It has imposed a requirement that all municipalities update their Official Community Plans by Dec. 31 to account for housing needs identified in the ­housing needs reports, which the province has also imposed on municipalities. The problem is that these reports use outdated population projections.

Victoria’s housing needs report indicates that 26,604 new units are needed by 2041. Yet B.C. Stats’ recent projections tell a different story.

In 2024, B.C. Stats projected that Victoria’s population would grow by almost 24,000 people by 2041. These are the numbers used for housing needs reports.

But with changes to immigration policy, B.C. Stats now projects that the city will grow by only 10,000 people by 2041.

Fewer people mean fewer households. B.C. Stats projects that there will be only 7,352 net new households in Victoria by 2041.

Even if you add 9,000 units of “latent........

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