Vancouver's new Green-led council sworn in with housing platform focus

VANCOUVER · Vancouver's new city council was sworn in Monday, led by Green Mayor Pete Fry, who defeated incumbent Ken Sim of ABC Vancouver by more than 30,000 votes. The election results leave ABC Vancouver with just one council seat, held by Mike Klassen, ending the party's supermajority. Fry will be joined on council by four Green party colleagues: Annette Reilly, Stephanie Smith, Camil Dumont and Bridget Burns. COPE holds four seats, led by Sean Orr, along with Chloe Leslie, Devyani Singh and Solomon Yi-Kieran, while OneCity’s Lucy Maloney retains the remaining seat.

The Green Party platform, which formed a central part of its campaign, promises to use city-owned land for affordable housing, co-ops and community land trusts. It pledges to create an Affordable Housing Czar role to deliver non-market and supportive housing and to finance city-owned affordable housing through public bonds called Vancouver Public Housing Bonds. The party also commits to requiring affordable homes on-site or payments in-lieu from large developments through inclusionary zoning. "The platform treats climate change as part of daily life," the Greens wrote, promising better access to cooling, clean air and shade during extreme weather. They aim to implement a 3-30-300 standard, where every household can see three trees, live in a neighbourhood with a 30 percent tree canopy and be within 300 metres of a green space. Other climate measures include streamlining permits for rooftop solar, modernizing curbside electric vehicle charging and limiting fossil gas in new construction.

On housing, the Greens propose restoring a dedicated Renter’s Office to help tenants handle city processes and track displacement. They plan to strengthen relocation policies citywide with fair compensation and create a rapid acquisition fund to preserve at-risk rental housing. The platform calls for updating maintenance bylaws to require timely fixes for mold and air quality issues and working with the province to close loopholes in the Empty Homes Tax. The party promises to expedite planning and lease renewals for co-ops on city-owned land and offer city-approved designs for homes and rental buildings to speed up permitting. It aims to break down departmental silos for faster permit approvals and reduce fees for truly affordable housing projects. The Greens also advocate to senior governments to reverse a supportive housing ban and push for more federal and provincial funding.

READ MORE: Housing affordability in Canada shows little progress as incomes offset high costs

READ MORE: Vancouver's new mayor picks deputy, Metro Vancouver board members

COPE's platform aligns with the Greens on several housing priorities, including strengthening renter protections and tightening the Empty Homes Tax. COPE pledges to fight to close the vacancy loophole so rent controls apply between tenants. It also promises to buy apartments to turn them into permanently affordable public housing and co-ops, and to create a right-of-first refusal policy giving tenants and then the city first priority to purchase buildings when they go up for sale. On community safety, the Greens unveiled CROW (Community Response Outreach Workers), an around-the-clock, non-police and non-medical team to respond to non-emergency calls involving homelessness, addiction and mental health crises. The party plans to create low-barrier daytime shelters and secure storage facilities so people can protect their belongings while accessing services. It also promises to reverse the ban on supportive housing with occupancy requirements ensuring good conditions and to establish rapid shelter villages with private cabins as a bridge to permanent housing.

For small businesses, the Greens propose fast-tracking permits to convert vacant storefronts into active businesses and working with the province to protect small businesses from disproportionate property tax increases. They pledge to push the province for commercial tenant protections and use incentives to preserve affordable commercial space. The platform includes plans to protect employment lands from speculative conversion and to preserve land for manufacturing, logistics and marine industries. The Greens promise to roll out more dedicated bus lanes in partnership with TransLink to speed up buses and push for more late-night routes and a firm timeline for rapid transit to UBC. They plan to create an Office of Strong Communities as a neighbourhood engagement hub working directly with residents and community groups. Through a Festival Fund, the party aims to provide consistent year-over-year funding for community events.

With files from The Realist | Howard Chai and 604 Now