West Kelowna seeks partners to deliver affordable housing

Date of Issue: Tuesday, March 3, 2026

The City of West Kelowna is launching West Kelowna Builds – Affordable Housing Partnership Program, which is aimed at increasing the supply and accelerating the delivery of affordable housing.

An Expression of Interest, available through the BC Bid Portal, seeks a broad range of creative concepts to explore a variety of partnership opportunities. The deadline for submissions is 2 p.m. on April 2, 2026.

“With the launch of West Kelowna Builds, we’re looking at different partnership models to increase the supply of affordable housing in West Kelowna,” said West Kelowna Mayor Gord Milsom. “Thanks to funding from CMHC to increase our housing supply, we’re able to look at new and different opportunities to support our residents and newcomers to the community.”

“Our Government is committed to giving communities the support they need to drive housing supply and bring down housing costs,” said the Honourable Stephen Fuhr, Secretary of State, Defence Procurement and Member of Parliament for Kelowna. “I congratulate the City of West Kelowna for exploring new partnership models to accelerate housing starts. It’s proof that the Housing Accelerator Fund is helping communities move from planning to building faster.”

The purpose of the program is to increase the supply and accelerate the delivery of long-term and secured non-market housing and mixed-tenure housing (non-market, and market partnership). This will be achieved by aligning Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) funding, City assets, and policy tools with non-profit and private partners.

Project concepts must include a minimum of 30 per cent of non-market housing with a portion secured as affordable housing.

Contributions from the City may include:

• City-owned land, provided through long-term lease or partnership agreements;
• Strategic land acquisition; 
• Land assembly strategies, including partnerships with proponents who already control suitable development sites; 
• Zoning alignment, density optimization, and flexible policy tools; 
• Development Cost Charge (DCC) waivers or reductions for non-market housing floor area; and 
• Expedited approvals, municipal endorsement, and intergovernmental advocacy.

About the Housing Accelerator Fund

The City of West Kelowna was awarded up to $7.9 million from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to deliver initiatives that will increase housing supply and create more housing options in our community.

The City and CMHC have agreed to a Housing Supply Growth Target of 1,343 housing units by 2028, which includes 199 single-family units, 814 missing middle units, and 330 multi-unit homes. Additionally, 114 affordable housing units are targeted as a subset within the overall targets.

The City of West Kelowna’s Action Plan commits to seven local initiatives including but not limited to new incentives to increase priority housing, fast-tracking standardized housing designs, and zoning updates to encourage more rental, affordable, and missing middle housing. Opportunities to develop affordable housing will be further enabled through a Land Strategy, which will outline direction and processes for utilizing City land.

The West Kelowna Builds – Affordable Housing Partnership Program will both help the City to achieve the Housing Supply Growth Target, as well as respond to key initiatives in the Action Plan.  

Learn more

For more information about the Housing Accelerator Fund and the initiatives and targets the City of West Kelowna is committed to reaching, visit westkelownacity.ca/haf.

Learn more about West Kelowna Builds at westkelownacity.ca/westkelownabuilds.