Capital Daily for Monday, June 22

Over six years, Victoria approved 6,448 building permits for new housing, comfortably ahead of the 6,000 it aimed for in 2019. By one measure, the strategy worked.

Dig into who those homes are for and the picture changes. The city approved permits for only 29% of the 700 new medium-income homes it had targeted, and 60% of its 700 low-income goal. The "missing middle" of townhouses, small apartments and duplexes fell short too, with 463 permits against a goal of 1,000.

The rental side fared better. The vacancy rate climbed to 3.2%, its highest since 1999, and the city approved 3,626 market rental homes, nearly double the 1,900 it wanted. But average rent still rose 6% last year to $1,714 across all unit types.

Council approved fresh targets last week of 997 to 1,330 new homes a year through 2028. Mayor Marianne Alto warned those numbers may not be aggressive enough, and Coun. Dave Thompson pointed to roughly 8,000 units of latent demand the city still has to dig out from under.

Teachers in two Saanich schools have been scrubbing up mouse droppings their own union says they shouldn't be touching at all.

The rodents have settled in at Brentwood Elementary and North Saanich Middle School, and SD63's director of facilities, Rob Lumb, doesn't dispute the bigger picture. "We have noticed an increase in rodent population across the district," he told Capital Daily. Parents have filled local Facebook pages with the rest of it: classroom supplies thrown out, staff upset, one poster calling the situation "out of control."

Part of the problem is a policy one. The province banned certain rodenticides in 2023 over the harm they do to birds, which left schools fighting mice with traps, cleaning, and patched-up holes instead. "Basically, our most effective tool was taken away with that ban," Lumb said.

The district says the tide is turning. Lumb points to traps that are coming back emptier, and Brentwood's principal has told parents the school is doing regular walkthroughs and sealing away every food source it can find.