City of Surrey Economic Strategy 2024, “Investing in Our Future: A Roadmap to Realizing the Opportunities of Tomorrow”
Recent projections for Surrey’s growth show that the city will become home to a million people within the next two decades. Rapid growth brings many benefits, but it also brings significant challenges in housing, labour, and infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated profound changes in trade and investment and local economies. The rapid monetary tightening over the past two years has created uncertainties and disruptions for businesses. Surrey’s economy must continue to grow and add jobs even in the face of global and macroeconomic change and uncertainty. Recognizing these new challenges, and to adapt and accelerate our development as a city and accommodate the projected growth, the City of Surrey created the 2024 Economic Strategy, Investing in Our Future: A Roadmap to Realizing the Opportunities of Tomorrow. Over the course of developing the Strategy, we engaged with more than 1,300 individuals and 90 organizations. Developed as a result of these engagements, the Strategy’s priorities and actions are designed to adapt to changes in the world and leverage our assets to capitalize on emerging trends and create the jobs we need as the city grows. We focused on the following priorities:
- By defining transformative investments, enhancing our investment readiness, and increasing Surrey’s inventory of investment ready sites, we are building a resilient economic foundation. With this approach, we will be able to attract large investments into the city that will move the dial in creating 309,000 jobs that our growing population needs over the next two decades, ensuring economic stability and growth even during uncertain times.
- Surrey has the largest share of Metro Vancouver’s industrial lands at 22% and a rapidly growing City Centre. By leveraging these assets, prioritizing intensified use of industrial lands, and supporting the development of pure office space, we will be able to attract large investments in target sectors that create more high-quality jobs and allow residents to find those employment opportunities within the city, supporting local economic resilience and self-sufficiency.
- By supporting innovative scale-up companies, launching the Innovation Boulevard 2.0 program, and advocating for more post-secondary seats, we are fostering a robust innovation community. This initiative aims to rebuild and strengthen our tech workforce, ensuring that Surrey remains competitive and adaptive to future economic challenges.
- Surrey residents spend more than $703 million on goods and services monthly, $52 million of which is spent outside of Surrey for entertainment, recreation, and restaurant dining. By leveraging such market opportunities in our community, we will develop two new Entertainment Districts in the city and work with senior levels of government to expand social infrastructure to ensure that all Surrey communities have enough assets and amenities to meet the needs of a growing city.
The 2024 Economic Strategy is our blueprint for strengthening Surrey’s economy. By focusing on these key priorities, we are committed to ensuring that Surrey remains a resilient, prosperous, and vibrant community.
Strategy webpage: https://investsurrey.ca/market-data-resources/reports-strategies/economic-strategy-2024
