A Solution to Vancouver's Housing Crisis?

Last week, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim announced a plan to create more middle-income housing in Vancouver to alleviate the city’s housing shortage. The plan is to expand the Vancouver Housing Development Office (VHDO) mandate to facilitate the city's development of more housing projects on city-owned land. Per a recent press release, the Mayor has used this initiative to move forward on a rezoning proposal for a 54-story, mixed-use building at Pacific and Hornby Street, offering 1,136 market rental homes. 

Vancouver has been lauded as one of the world’s most liveable cities. However, its housing situation is anything but that. In June 2024, Vancouver was ranked the third-least affordable housing market after Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia, and below notable cities such as New York, London, and San Francisco. The situation has been so exacerbated that it has attracted national and international attention. 

Mr. Sim ran for mayor in 2022 on an aggressive strategy to reduce red tape and build more affordable housing quickly. Under his watch, Vancouver began constructing a record 33,000 homes in 2023, with new apartments making up 83% of those being built. This comes, however, as new ground house units fall by 16% year-over-year to a level last recorded in 2009. New units and affordability are expected to play a significant role in the upcoming Canadian federal election. 

While Mayor Sim’s proposal represents a unique idea to build homes by using city land to build more housing while not increasing taxes, time will tell if the Mayor is successful, as the issue of adobes doesn’t seem to be subsiding anytime soon.