Maple Ridge, B.C., Aug 7, 2026 – The City of Maple Ridge is moving forward with new housing actions to support more housing choices, protect renters, improve development processes and guide growth in the right places.
At its July 28 meeting, Council advanced several policies, bylaws and measures as part of the City’s Housing Action Plan: Building Our Community for All. The actions: support modern zoning for key growth areas and new housing near transit, shops, services and employment areas; make it easier to build small-scale multi-unit housing; strengthen tenant protections; and continue work to encourage more rental and non-market housing.
“These actions are about turning housing objectives into practical tools,” said Mayor Dan Ruimy. “We need more housing choices in Maple Ridge, but we also need to be thoughtful about where that housing goes, how it connects to transit, services, jobs and infrastructure, and how we can support people who are already living here. Council is focused on doing the work local government can do — updating zoning, improving processes, protecting renters and planning for complete neighbourhoods — while continuing to push for the provincial and federal investments growing communities need.”
The City’s approach focuses on the areas that local government can directly influence, including land use, zoning, development processes, infrastructure planning, customer service and partnerships. While the challenges of market conditions, construction costs, interest rates and senior government funding all affect how quickly new homes are built, Maple Ridge is continuing to create the conditions for housing, investment and community services to move forward.
Planning for growth in the right places
Council advanced four new medium- and high-density zones for key growth areas, including Transit-Oriented Areas, the Town Centre and the Lougheed Transit Corridor.
The proposed zones are designed to support apartments and mixed-use buildings close to transit, shops, services and employment. They include updated standards for building height and density, commercial space, indoor and outdoor amenities, building design and neighbourhood-serving uses such as cafés, childcare, small grocery stores and local services.
The proposed zoning updates also include new flexibility for lock-off suites, which are self-contained suites within larger apartment units, and incentives to encourage more three-bedroom units. These changes are intended to support multi-generational living, rental options and more family-friendly housing in apartment buildings.
“Clear, modern zoning is one of the most important tools the City has to guide growth,” said James Stiver, Director of Planning and Building. “These proposed zones will make it easier to deliver the types of housing the community needs, while also supporting livability, good design, family-sized homes, local services and better access to transit.”
Making it easier to build housing
Council also approved the Expedited Processing Program pilot initiative for eligible triplex and fourplex projects.
The pilot is intended to make the development permit process clearer and faster for some small-scale multi-unit housing infill projects in selected areas. It does not create new density beyond what is already permitted by the provincial small-scale multi-unit housing legislation. Instead, it uses a qualified professional assurance checklist approach to help eligible applications move through the process simply and more efficiently.
The pilot program will launch on September 1, 2026, with public-facing education materials and briefings being released in the coming weeks with the details of the program and to build awareness. Staff will report back to Council after the one-year pilot period with results, lessons learned and recommendations.
Staff are also exploring future measures to support more fee simple townhouses, sometimes called rowhouses, in suitable areas of the community. This form of housing can provide ground-oriented ownership options without monthly strata fees, helping expand housing choice and affordability.
Protecting renters and supporting rental housing
Council approved policies to support the City’s tenant protection framework. The policy updates implement a new Tenant Protection Bylaw, amend the City’s Tenant Relocation Assistance Policy and Manufactured Home Park Redevelopment Tenant Assistance Policy and introduce a new Rental Protection Policy.
The new Rental Protection Policy encourages replacement of rental units lost through redevelopment on at least a one-for-one basis and supports eligible tenants having priority access to replacement units through a right of first refusal.
“Building more homes must go hand in hand with supporting people who are already housed,” said Mayor Ruimy. “As Maple Ridge grows, we want renters to have clearer information, stronger protections and a fair process when redevelopment affects their homes.”
The City is also continuing work to support more rental and affordable housing through its Housing Accelerator Fund commitments. Maple Ridge was approved for up to $16.6 million starting in 2025 through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, administered by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, to support actions to increase the supply of housing and make housing more accessible and affordable.
As one of the Housing Accelerator Fund actions, staff reviewed the feasibility of inclusionary zoning—a tool that can help create affordable housing by requiring or incentivizing developers to include some lower-cost units in new housing projects—and found it is not likely to be an effective tool at this time in Maple Ridge’s market. Instead, the City will continue exploring partnerships with provincial, community and non-profit organizations, co-operative housing, community land trusts, a future Non-Market Housing Strategy and options to use the Housing Accelerator Funds to help subsidize City permit fees for eligible multi-unit rental projects.
Aligning housing with infrastructure, jobs and community needs
Maple Ridge continues to emphasize that housing growth must be aligned with the infrastructure and services residents need and rely on every day, including roads, transit, schools, health care, childcare, parks, public safety facilities, utilities and community amenities.
The City’s 2026–2030 Capital Plan includes nearly $432 million in planned investments for transportation, utilities, public safety and community facilities. The City is applying for provincial and federal infrastructure grants and continues to advocate for senior government investment into healthcare, schools, public transit and other essential services that are outside the City’s jurisdiction and ability to deliver.
Housing is also being planned alongside the expansion of commercial and industrial areas. Recent Council-approved strategies and projects, including the Yennadon Lands and the North 256 Street Industrial Area, are intended to support a stronger and more diversified local economy. The North 256 Street Industrial Area Plan, approved by Council on June 23, 2026, will provide new and expanded employment land to help attract business investment, enhance the municipal tax base and support local jobs which will allow more people to live close to where they work.
For more information on the City’s housing progress, visit MapleRidge.ca/Housing.
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Media Contact
Pardeep Purewal, Senior Manager of Communications and Public Engagement
T 604-466-4319 C 778-955-4249 E Media@MapleRidge.ca