Blueridge and Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing

Editor’s Note: This page is home to our documentation about SSMUH, or Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing, a set of laws and zoning changes affecting all of BC that came into place in 2024. This documentation is updated and revised as new information becomes available. If you note an error or omission, please report it to webmaster@blueridgeca.org.

Current SSMUH Status

April 13, 2026 Update:

At a Council meeting this evening, a 4 to 3 vote determined that the District will not implement SSMUH as required by Provincial Bill 25.

The mayor and councillors spoke of how the Province has failed to work with local governments on this issue. They stressed that the District has worked hard and followed best practices to develop more housing in urban centres where services and utilities are available without extensive expense, and how the Province has thrown out decades of planning by the District and other municipalities with Bills 44 and 25.

Even councillors who voted in favour of implementing Bill 25’s requirements agreed that there were areas where the Province had not done the job well. Councillor Hanson, who supported the implementation of SSMUH, only did so because he’s concerned the Province will step in and implement SSMUH in a poor way very similar to the way it has interacted with local governments on this issue to date.

In the end, Mayor Little and Councillors Muri, Forbes and Mah stopped the implementation of SSMUH at this time while councillors Back, Pope and Hanson voted to implement it.

Council is preparing a letter to the Provincial Housing Minister documenting the reasons for their vote.

The next question is how the Province will react.

March 2026 Status:

SSMUH is coming to the DNV thanks to Provincial Bill 25. We have a detailed summary article that we suggest reading, but here are the basics of how SSMUH will impact Blueridge:

  • Lots in the interior of Blueridge will be allowed up to 4 units under SSMUH.
  • Lots along the borders of Blueridge will probably be ineligible for SSMUH due to fire or other risks. The dark purple area of this map shows the region:

Click to enlarge.

  • DNV Staff and Council are still reviewing the option to allow Residential Rental Tenure Zoning (RRTZ) in some SSMUH developments. RRTZ would allow the DNV to require long-term rental to be part of a development. Update: DNV staff have reported back to Council that RRTZ won’t work.
  • The current best guess is that SSMUH developments will be very limited across the District and in Blueridge. They will be expensive to build, and Blueridge has old water & sewer supplies that will cause limitations. (See below.)
  • New SSMUH developments may be built and sold as strata.
  • The District will always have the ability to prohibit SSMUH developments for safety and capacity reasons, specifically around service limitations in water, sewer, and the like.
  • No one currently knows what the impact of SSMUH will be on property values.
  • When combined with single-family zoning changes that eliminate full basements in new construction, along with increases to the allowable building height and siting rules, both SSMUH developments and newly built standard homes may be larger visually. However, the maximum allowable size for standard single-family homes isn’t being increased. SSMUH developments will get some bonus space to keep the units from being too small.
  • Bill 25 requires SSMUH zoning in every city of over 5,000 people by the end of June 2026.

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