As highlighted in Saturday’s GRU, the City of Vancouver’s byelections took place on Saturday. The byelection saw record advanced turnout and high interest, leaving many voters frustrated as they waited hours to vote. The byelection ended with Sean Orr with the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) party and Lucy Maloney with One City being deemed unofficially elected. The city’s Chief Elections Officer will make the official declaration on Wednesday, April 9 before 4 p.m.
According to the City of Vancouver’s website, with 67,962 votes cast, Orr received 34,448 votes and Maloney received 33,732, each receiving almost double the votes from the next closest candidate, Colleen Hardwick of TEAM with only 17,352. ABC Vancouver candidates, Jamie Stein and Ralph Kaisers each received less than 10,000 votes, lower than all other party-affiliated candidates, which indicates that Vancouverites are disgruntled with current Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC party. Although ABC Vancouver still has the majority of seats on Council, the two new Councillors have made it clear in their campaigns that they will be advocating for rental tenancy protections, homelessness and affordable housing solutions, and other socially driven issues. According to Orr, “I will spend every moment fighting Ken Sim and ABC…”, so it will be interesting see how this new Council will be moving forward — will the ABC party stay united, or will the cracks in their party’s facade further deepen over time?
For HAVAN, and others in our industry, what we need from the City is more green lights for housing and the removal/reduction of costly red tape. From easing off the gas pedal of fees applied to construction, reducing the impact of inclusionary zoning policy and expediting permits and adhering to the promised 3-3-3-1 Permit Approval Framework. In speaking with City staff and noted on their website, to facilitate expedited permitting, Vancouver is working on its digitized systems, including utilizing AI (points below extracted from City of Vancouver website):
- Project Requirements Exploration Tool (PRET) allows you to explore and understand all regulations and requirements associated with your project. You’ll be able to check if you’re allowed to build a laneway house on your property, what permits are needed to build, and determine project feasibility – all before you hit submit on your application. The first iteration of PRET is now available for laneway homes in R1-1 zones.
- eComply allows you to upload and check all your project designs and drawings to make sure they follow regulations. You’ll receive feedback on areas that meet requirements as well as items that are incomplete, missing, or not permitted so you can resolve issues before you submit your application. eComply will launch early next year.
Although these are positive steps, there is still a long way to go and doesn’t address the extended delays that larger projects encounter. With the recently released Metro Vancouver Regional Housing Needs Report, the City of Vancouver alone needs to bring online 170,155 homes in the next 20 years. Regionally, housing development needs to double to address housing pressures, which includes both owned and purpose-built rentals.
Regardless of what parties are on Council, it is imperative that the City of Vancouver Mayor and Council (and really, all municipalities) stay focused on housing as a priority and provide policies that support bringing all housing solutions online. The residential construction sector is the one taking on the risks in bringing housing to fruition and should be applauded for fighting to move the industry forward to ensure residents/constituents have a place to call home. Want more homes to be built? Then pave the way so we can get to work.
HAVAN continues to work with CHBA BC and CHBA to advocate for all levels of government to work together to address the challenges of the housing industry including zoning restrictions, density limits, and NIMBYism.
Looking to stay up-to-date on Metro Vancouver’s residential housing industry? Sign up for Wendy’s weekly Monday Morning Briefing and other HAVAN emails here.
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