Record number of people moved to B.C. last year amidst labour, housing shortages

The B.C. government is celebrating a record number of people moving to the province last year, a potential salve to the ongoing labour shortage despite concerns over affordable housing options.

Statistics Canada found an additional 100,797 people came to B.C. from another province, territory or country in 2021 — the highest annual net migration total since 1961.

“We welcome these newcomers with open arms, and we are determined to deliver the services and housing people in B.C. need to support this record growth,” Premier John Horgan said in a statement Wednesday.

Net migration is defined as the number of people who moved to B.C. minus the number who left the province.

Of that total, 33,656 people moved to the province from elsewhere in Canada, marking the highest number since 1994. Statistics Canada found B.C. saw the most arrivals from another part of the country than any other province or territory last year.

The remaining 67,141 people who moved to B.C. in 2021 came from another country. That number is the second-highest on record for B.C., with only Ontario seeing more new residents from abroad last year.

The province says the new arrivals will help address labour shortages caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite 84,000 more people working in B.C. compared to before the pandemic began, the province estimates over one million jobs will need to be filled over the next decade — 80 per cent of which will require some level of post-secondary education or training.

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Ian Tostenson, president and CEO of the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association, says his industry remains short of 30,000 to 40,000 workers which he labels a “crisis.”

He says the province — which has focused on attracting skilled workers like doctors, nurses and engineers — needs to emphasize skilled trades as well, including cooks and carpenters.

“It’s great that we have 100,000 (new) people into the province … (but) we just do not have enough people in British Columbia to fill all those jobs,” he said.

The record number of new residents comes as the province struggles to address a growing demand for affordable housing options.

A report last month from the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) found that while B.C.’s housing inventory is keeping up with population growth, many of those new homes remain unattainable.

The report shows that the province’s population grew 7.6 per cent while the number of dwellings grew 7.2 per cent between 2016 and 2021.

In some major cities — including Vancouver, Kelowna and Victoria — new housing supply actually outpaced local population growth, the report found.

Yet the UBCM said investor-drive real estate practices and pre-sale flipping, among other practices, have continued to drive up home prices, making it difficult for first-time homebuyers in particular to enter the market.

The province has acknowledged the need for more housing supply and has even floated the idea of overriding municipalities to speed up the pace of approving new developments.

Legislation was also introduced last month for a “cooling off period” intended to stop so-called blind bidding on home purchases. But industry representatives have raised concerns that the move would simply push more risk onto sellers and do little to address the market overall.

Tostenson says more supply is needed in order to retain workers who may be able to fill openings in the labour market over the long term.

–With files from John Hua and Taya Fast