Uncovering the Hidden Universe of Rental Units in Surrey

Current information on the distribution and numbers of rental units in the City of Surrey is incomplete. This hampers the City's ability to accurately plan for community services, schools, transportation, and other infrastructure. Without a full accounting of rental units, the City also does not know the actual vacancy rate, which has policy implications in terms of affordable housing supply. The goal of this project is to assemble information (e.g., create a database and visualizations) from multiple sources and datasets to construct as complete a picture as possible. Equipped with this data, the City will review and shape policy development on a number of fronts; including parking management policies, secondary suite legalization campaigns, and affordable housing policies that specifically address the supply on rental housing.