BC Public Lands Map

Search, filter, and assess federal, provincial, municipal, and crown agency land for affordable housing potential in an instant.

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Overview

What is the BCPLM?

52,384

Parcels Mapped

397M

Square meters of land identified

661,000

Potential non-profit homes

$52B

Value of ID’d Public Lands

An interactive map of publicly-owned land in BC, scored for housing potential.

  • Covers Federal, Provincial, Municipal, and Crown Agency land in one searchable place
  • Scores each parcel for development readiness, including DASH metrics.
  • Identifies access to infrastructure and amenities
  • Fast-track site identification and streamline decision-making at every level of government.

Public land is one of the few levers that can lower the cost of affordable housing without new subsidy — but only if the right parcel can be found, assessed, and acted on quickly. Before the BCPLM, that meant cross-referencing land registries held separately by every level of government, with no shared way to compare what was actually buildable.

The BCPLM brings that information into one place. Every parcel is assessed and scored for its suitability according to its characteristics, proximity to infrastructure and amenities, and development potential.

It is the only map of its kind, and its available for everyone, free.

How it’s built

Methodology and Code

Methodology

A full breakdown of how the BCPLM identifies public land, assigns scores, and assesses location and infrastructure — including data sources, assumptions, and known limitations.

Read the methodology

Source Code

The codebase behind the BCPLM is public on GitHub: data pipelines, scoring logic, and the map front end. Open an issue, fork it, or follow along as we ship updates.

Watch this space – GitHub Link coming soon

What we delivered on june 30

Launch Recap

On June 30, 2026, HART published the BC Public Lands Map at the live launch event with governments, housing sector organizations, and members of the public who have been tracking its development since announced in 2025.

The session covered how the map was developed, how it could be used by audiences across the province, and how it can support the development of non-profit housing across the province to meaningfully address housing need.
Missed it?

Watch the recording

“Using public land for housing could make the difference between a project going ahead or not, and for viable plans, public land can make them more affordable.”

– Craig Jones, Associate Director

Background reading

Land use and governance in British Columbia: Barriers and solutions to building more housing on public land

Follow BCPLM

The BCPLM will continue to update data and add features through the summer; subscribe to our project updates below to be the first to know.

The map is live.

No login required. Free, online, forever.

Open the bc public lands map

Last updated: June 30, 2026