Housing Accelerator Fund

On February 18, 2025 the Canadian and Housing Corporation (CMHC) awarded the City of Port Coquitlam a grant of up to $10.3 million from the  Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) to deliver and complete seven initiatives. In March 2026, the City was awarded up to $1.7M in additional funding to deliver an eighth initiative, increasing the total funds to up to $12M. These funds will work towards removing barriers to housing supply, accelerating development approvals, and supporting greater housing choice within the community. 

Port Coquitlam HAF Approved Action Plan

The City of Port Coquitlam’s HAF Approved Action Plan (AAP) aims to deliver 1,183 units over the next three years through eight initiatives. 

1. Development Approvals Process Review (2025-2026): Streamlining development approvals by delegating application approvals, in-house registration of permits and pre-approved designs.

2. Activate City Lands for Development and Explore Partnerships (2026): Create an internal strategy and set of criteria for identifying existing lands to activate for priority housing types as well as a strategy for acquisition of new lands.

3. Develop Grant Opportunities to Activate Housing Development (2025-2026): Developing a grant program for new affordable housing and new market infill housing.

4. Identify Areas for Further Parking Reductions (2024-2025): Review Transit Demand Management (TDM) measures that can be implemented to support alternative transportation.

5. Implement Pre-zoning to Activate Multi-family Housing Development (2024-2025): Identify and develop opportunities for new multi-family housing supported by transit, infrastructure and amenities.

6. Increase Process Efficiency Through Use of New Technologies (2024-2026): Update the City’s use of new technologies such as e-permitting, and a digital portal for development applications to increase efficiency and streamline development processes.

7. Eliminate Restrictions and Add Flexibility to Multi-Family Housing through a Comprehensive Density Bonusing Review (2026): Undertake a comprehensive update to the current density bonusing program. The program will apply both broadly to multi-family housing across the city, and also to provincially mandated Transit-Oriented Areas (TOAs).

8. Addressing Barriers to Housing Starts (2026): Undertake zoning and land-use reforms to enable missing middle housing, and provide targeted investments in housing- and community-related infrastructure to advance in-stream projects that are at or near development readiness.  

Year 1 (2025) Progress on Approved Action Plan

On January 8, 2026, the City submitted its Year 1 (2025) progress report to CMHC, meeting all initiatives and milestones scheduled for completion by the end of 2025. Initiatives extending into 2026 are well underway and on track to meet future deadlines. The City was notified by CMHC that it has received the highest progress rating available to municipalities for meeting the contractual obligations of HAF - being under budget, on time and exceeding targets. 

The status of all eight initiatives is summarized in the table below: 

Housing Supply Targets

The HAF will help the City increase the supply of new homes. This includes 339 HAF-incented units and 844 baseline units. The HAF program intends to increase the number of annual new homes by 34% over the next three years. Specific growth targets of housing include the following:  

 

Year 1 (2025) Progress on HAF Housing Supply Targets

Port Coquitlam had a housing growth target of 293 net new units for Year 1. During this period, the City approved 456 net new units, achieving 155% of the target. Based on the current development pipeline, staff anticipate that the City will be in a good position to meet its 2026 housing growth targets for net new units.

Background Documents

Last updated: April 2026