Are you feeling overwhelmed by Vancouver’s civic election?
Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. With greater than half a dozen parties, 15 candidates running for mayor and 137 people running for various civic offices in town it’s hard for anyone to maintain up.
We’ve combed through the most important parties’ platforms to provide you a snapshot of where they stand on three key issues: housing; public safety, mental health and the drug crisis; and climate change.
Take into accout this shouldn’t be a whole list — and with just over two weeks to go, the parties are still unveiling policy positions. This text will likely be repeatedly updated.
Forward Together
Incumbent Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s slate is promising to “approve and enable” 222,000 latest homes over the following decade, including 140,000 market rental, below-market rental, social housing units and co-operatives.
It’s also promising to increase tough latest renter protections from the Broadway Plan city-wide. The protections require developers to cover tenants relocation expenses during a renovation or redevelopment, and provides them a right of first refusal to return at the identical or lower rent.
Forward Together guarantees to modernize the general public hearing and permitting process for efficiency, by working with the province to alter the Vancouver Charter and continuing an existing permit modernization task force at city hall.
It could also create “specialized project approval teams” for large-impact projects to hurry up decisions and cut red tape.
Forward Together would maintain the empty homes tax at “not less than” five per cent.
ABC Vancouver
Ken Sim’s ABC is pledging to eliminate town’s construction backlog with a “3x3x3x1 permit approval system.” Under the system home renovations could be approved in three days, single family home and townhouse permits could be approved in three weeks, multi-family and mid-rise projects could be approved in three months and enormous projects could be approved in a single yr.
ABC says it might create “predictable” formulas for community amenity contributions, the money developers pay town when a property is rezoned, and development fees could be focused on creating inexpensive rental.
ABC says it might pre-approve five standard laneway home designs to hurry up construction, and review town’s missing middle housing technique to increase supply of the housing type.
It says it might review the empty homes tax to discover residents unintentionally captured by it.
The party says it might shift social housing technique to give attention to quality, not quantity, and tie increases in spending to inflation, in addition to work with BC Housing on a 20-year social and supportive housing plan.
An ABC majority would double the variety of co-operative houses over 4 years, and discover properties for density bonuses for construction of non-market housing.
TEAM for a livable Vancouver
Colleen Hardwick’s TEAM is promising a combination of non-market and market housing including private homes, rentals, co-ops, co-housing, secondary suites, multiple conversion dwellings, laneway houses, townhouses and apartments. It says it can speed up permitting and stabilize land value inflation by ending spot rezonings that “ignore neighbourhood plans” and don’t contribute to amenities.
TEAM would repeal the recently approved Broadway Plan and Vancouver Plan, which it says will “prevent arbitrary city-wide application of out-of-scale cookie-cutter buildings lacking local context, and create neighbourhood-specific plans.
TEAM has promised to carry a plebiscite on spending $500 million to construct 2,000 co-op units, and lobby the provincial and federal governments for matching funds.
It could also use city-owned land for more cost-effective housing, and secure more non-market and supportive social housing from the provincial and federal governments.
It says it would supply incentives for inexpensive housings based on project details and community consultation that “fit into the size, context and zoning of every neighbourhood.”
Non-Partisan Association
Fred Harding’s NPA is concentrated on boosting private-sector development of housing supply. It says it might legally cap permit wait times and have a look at digital permitting to chop red tape.
The party says it might tie supply targets to immigration numbers and incentivize the private sector to construct needed housing types, and pre-zone supply targets where possible to finish “building-by-building battles at city hall.”
The platform calls for working with senior levels of presidency on more funding for housing, especially the “missing middle,” and dealing with financial institutions on a first-time home buyers’ program.
It could also implement flat-rate community amenity contributions, the money fees developers pay town when land is rezoned, with a lower rate for rental.
Progress Vancouver
Mark Marissen’s Progress Vancouver would allow six-storey rental and four-storey condos in all parts of town.
It could create a latest Vancouver Civic Housing Corporation to construct and manage mixed-income housing and encourage family-sized units, and use profits to fund below-market housing.
The party would goal development of 15,000 latest homes per yr, half of them rentals.
It says it might renew co-operative housing land leases and search for opportunities to expand the variety of units at renewal.
It calls for the creation of a luxury homes surtax on the highest one per cent of properties, and maintaining town’s empty homes tax.
Renters under Progress Vancouver could be offered the suitable of refusal to redeveloped or renovated housing at their old rent or 20 per cent below market rate, and be compensated for moving expenses.
It says it might streamline permitting approvals with pre-approved “missing middle” designs, and a review of the permitting process. It could reform community amenity contributions, the money developers pay town when a property is rezoned, by setting a transparent public schedule of fees.
Vancouver Greens
The Greens say they might revisit Vancouver’s definition of “inexpensive housing” to mean housing that costs for 30 per cent of median renter household income.
The party is promising to fight demoviction and renoviction by guaranteeing renters the suitable of return at inexpensive rents, and says it might work rent increase on units, not tenants — nevertheless this power is under provincial jurisdiction.
The Greens would supply a menu of recent “Vancouver specials,” easily repeatable constructing plans starting from tiny homes to multi-family buildings to lower cost and speed up approval. It says it might also streamline permitting.
The platform calls for ramping up the acquisition and use of city-owned land for housing, and co-locating units with civic facilities like libraries and fire halls, and the expansion of co-cop and non-market zoning.
It also calls on planners and developers to make sure wrap-around services are adequate for supportive housing and community amenities are adequate for brand new developments.
OneCity Vancouver
OneCity has promised to finish Vancouver’s “apartment ban” by allowing purpose-built rental buildings of as much as six storeys and condos of as much as 4 storeys in all residential areas of town. Density bonuses could be offered to co-op, non-profit and social housing.
Such project approvals wouldn’t require a public hearing under the plan.
OneCity says it might turn the Vancouver Reasonably priced Housing Agency right into a public developer, with the suitable of first refusal on latest land sales.
The party can be promising to force developers to construct more family-friendly housing with minimum percentages and unit sizes for two- and three-bedroom suites.
It could also create a city Tenant Advocacy Office.
COPE
COPE says it might fight to implement emptiness controls, which might limit the quantity a landlord can raise rents at tenant turnover. Such a policy would require motion on the provincial government, nevertheless town is currently appealing a B.C. Supreme Court decision which could change that.
The party could create a legal framework for the popularity of tenant unions.
It says it might fight demovictions by pushing to make sure all displaced tenants are offered an appropriately sized unit in the brand new constructing at their old rent, and get top-up funding to afford rents in an interim apartment while waiting for the brand new constructing to get built.
It could also fight for a rent rollback to 2017 levels and rent freeze, and lobby the provincial government to finish no-pet clauses.
COPE has also called for a “mansion tax” in Vancouver, targeting the owners of the highest 5,000 high-value properties in town, with proceeds going to fight homelessness.
ABC Vancouver
Ken Sim’s ABC says it might hire 100 latest law enforcement officials and 100 latest mental health nurses to expand community policing and health authority-led programs like Automotive 87. It says it might fund the positions by identifying waste in town budget.
It says it might also work with the province and mental health experts to create peer-assisted care teams.
ABC would support all health-authority led initiatives for safer supply of street drugs, and work to construct a free, low-barrier 24-hour recovery centre.
It could also call for a mental health summit with all Lower Mainland mayors, the premier, and relevant provincial, federal and First Nations officials aimed toward sustainable funding and the creation of a regional mental health centre of excellence incorporating each treatment and recovery.
The party says it might seek to equip all patrol officers with body-worn cameras by 2025, and advocate for more city representation on the Vancouver Police Board.
It could also convene a task force to give attention to racially-motivated crime, and support a police-led graffiti abatement program.
Non-Partisan Association
Fred Harding’s NPA is pledging to link harm reduction to drug treatment, stating that “harm reduction by itself doesn’t work and shouldn’t be compassionate care.”
It says it can give attention to a holistic approach including harm reduction, prevention, treatment and enforcement of civil behaviour, and ensure “accountability for individuals who victimize residents of Vancouver.”
The NPA platform guarantees to fund the Vancouver Police Department so it has “the resources to do its job to the very best of its abilities,” and would reinstate the varsity police liaison officer program.
It could require BC Housing to commit specific resources for tenants with complex care needs before approving supportive housing projects, and force social service agencies with greater than $100,000 in government funding to review their effectiveness.
Referring to homeless encampments, it says it can seek the advice of with communities and supply services fairly than simply displacing campers.
The platform pledges to give attention to clean and functioning streets, parks and community facilities.
It says it might seek federal funding to spice up organized crime and downtown public safety responses, and advocate for town to be designated a “no-go” zone for violent and sexual offenders.
Forward Together
Kennedy Stewart’s Forward Together has proposed using town’s 311 line as a portal to deploy Health and Addictions Response Teams (HART) to reply to non-emergency mental health and drug crises, fairly than 911. This system is estimated to cost $5 million in its first yr.
Forward would expand access to a protected supply of illicit drugs, and work to allow peer-led compassion clubs to distribute them, and add 50 latest public washrooms across town.
The party pledges to totally fund police board budget requests, create an advisory committee aimed toward hate crimes and create an Office of the Night Time Economy, or ‘night mayor.’
OneCity
OneCity says it might create a Peer Assisted Care Team (PACT) program to deploy mental health professionals and peer crisis responders, fairly than police, in mental health crises.
It could fund mental health and first-aid training for most of the people to assist people assist people in crisis, put money into community-based organizations trained in de-escalation and crisis response, and support Indigenous-led community safety programs just like the Bear Clan Patrol.
The party says it might fund storage facilities for the homeless, and and expand the “Higher Together” community connection pilot project.
The platform calls for greater city control over the VPD’s annual budget and more diversity and equity and inclusion training for officers, and would review community policing centres to see which of their roles could possibly be transferred to civilian groups
It could support restorative justice programs for offenders.
OneCity says it might expand access to harm-reduction corresponding to overdose-prevention sites, together with naloxone kits. It could work to develop a non-prescription protected supply model along the lines of compassion clubs.
The platform calls for the inclusion of people that use drugs on city advisory committees, and the availability of “culturally relevant” supports for youth using drugs.
It could also expand access to detox centres for those ready for treatment.
Progress Vancouver
Mark Marissen’s Progress Vancouver calls for a city-wide drug checking service, with accessibility in all major neighbourhoods, and says it might lobby the province to fund protected supply in Vancouver.
It could offering grants and incentives to drug treatment clinics, with the aim to scale back wait times to 1 week or less, construct more sober social housing separate from low-barrier facilities, and work to finish the concentration of social housing within the Downtown Eastside.
It could also rework the Downtown Ambassador program into the Vancouver Outreach Corps, which could be led by addictions survivors.
It says it might work with the province to re-focus police on pursuing the suppliers of toxic drugs and lobby to maintain prolific offenders off the streets and stiffer penalties for stranger assaults. Police would even be directed to give attention to crimes against women.
It could fund Peer-Assisted Care Teams to scale back calls to 911 for people in mental health or drug crises.
On property crime, the platform calls for a crackdown on criminals chop shops and safer bike parking, together with storage solutions for hte homeless.
It could launch a “family friendly” downtown initiative, and install sharps disposal bins in alleys, parks and washrooms to chop down on discarded needles.
The party would also use city land for temporary emergency outdoor shelters, construct more public washrooms.
Vancouver Greens
The Vancouver Greens promise to fast-track rapid shelter concepts like tiny home communities in empty lots to offer transitional housing, and to offer more emergency shelter options.
The party says it can push the province to finish a promised navigation centre in town to act as a primary point of contact for the homeless, to audit the associated fee of homelessness on city services lobby senior levels of presidency to fund services downloaded to town.
They pledge to make sure adequate wrap-around services in supportive housing by making tenanting, staffing and operational agreements a condition of occupancy permits.
The party also pledges to expand access to 24-hour public washrooms.
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver
Colleen Hardwick’s TEAM says it can create a full-time Downtown Eastside commissioner with a mandate to ” address the uncontrolled social issues which can be impacting the health and safety of the community, and ensuring that needed resources are provided and properly distributed to those that need them.”
The party would also perform an in depth audit of the DTES to find out community needs and the way current resources are getting used.
And it might create a “single coordinating body” to handle homelessness and folks with complex needs from a holistic perspective fairly than through emergency services.
The party would launch a review of police, fire and emergency service adequacy to fulfill future needs from population growth, and work with police and the province to prioritize crime prevention.
TEAM would construct a disaster-proof emergency command centre in preparation for a significant natural disaster.
COPE
COPE has called for immediate motion on the Hastings Street encampment, including providing more washrooms, closing off side streets or providing parking lots where people can arrange tents and funding peer employees to arrange and maintain such sites.
The party says town must be advocating harder for protected drug supply and making space available for those providing it.
It’s also calling on all three levels of presidency to purchase hotels and empty apartment buildings to offer housing to the homeless, and for town to lobby the province to lift the welfare and disability rates.
Vancouver Greens
The Vancouver Greens climate platform calls for an expansion of city-owned green energy sources, corresponding to waste-to-energy, sewage heat capture, solar, geothermal and wind, and a move form “solar ready” to “solar required” in town constructing code where sunlight permits. Full lifecycle emissions could be included in all city reports to council.
It could ban gas hookups in all latest buildings, and set the default speed limit on side streets at 30 km/h.
The party would expand town’s protected cycling network, town’s Mobi bike-share program and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. It could phase out all gas vehicles in town’s fleet by 2030.
The Greens’ platform calls for public “protected havens” in all neighbourhoods people can take shelter in during extreme heat events.
It could also include food systems in town’s climate plan, establish food gardens in every neighbourhood, and work with non-profits and have a look at business licensing to make sure edible food is donated as an alternative of being thrown away.
The party would also sue big oil to recuperate money it has spent repairing climate related damage. Council approved $660,000 for this initiative earlier this yr.
Progress Vancouver
Mark Marissen’s Progress Vancouver would fight climate change by encouraging density around transit and lobbying for the completion of a subway to UBC and rapid transit on forty first/forty ninth Avenues and connecting to the North Shore.
Progress would make transit free for youngsters and seniors, and revive the Olympic Streetcar connecting Sen̓áḵw to the Canada Line. It could expand AAA bike infrastructure, while reviewing existing bike lanes to scale back conflict.
The party would launch an air quality strategy and include indoor air quality in town constructing bylaw. It says it might simplify the permitting process for constructing energy retrofits.
It could use bylaws to organize for future heat waves by requiring cooling systems be able to holding indoor temperatures at 26 C, partner with the province to distribute air conditioners to low-income seniors and the disabled, and boost annual tree plantings to 30,000.
It could prepare for storms and sea-level rise by raising the seawall, speeding up the separation of sanitary and storm water sewer conduits and have a look at more nature-based flood protection.
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver
Colleen Hardwick’s TEAM is pledging to make use of city incentives to encourage people to modify to electric vehicles and charging options, in addition to constructing systems for warmth and hot water with heat pumps and solar panels.
It could work with TransLink to speed up the switch to electric buses and repair frequency on arterial roads.
It says it might consider environmental concerns in all planning and development, including the complete lifecycle of the provision chain and plan for buildings that last more than a couple of many years.
And it might plan for climate resiliency and stability “including adapting to and mitigating rising sea levels, floods, water shortages, and warmth domes by expanded tree planting, tree protections, and enhancement of green space.”
Forward Together
Kennedy Stewart’s Forward Together is pledging to scale back carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2030.
It says it might regulate and support gas replacements in existing buildings and hook-ups from all latest buildings.
The platform calls for the installation of 500 latest electric vehicle charging stations, and would set targets for two-thirds of all trips in town to be by energetic transportation or transit, and make half of all vehicle trips zero emission.
If elected, Forward would implement city-wide plans for climate events and use more “nature-based” solutions to climate adaptation corresponding to increasing tree cover.
The party says it might aggressively lobby senior levels of presidency on rapid transit, with the aim of making the “Vancouver Loop.”
The thought could be to secure funding to finish the under-construction Broadway Subway from Arbutus Street to UBC, and to construct a rapid transit line along forty ninth Avenue and forty first Avenue between UBC and Metrotown.
Forward Together can be promising to proceed with a lawsuit against “big oil” to recuperate money town has spent addressing climate change. Council approved $660,000 for this initiative earlier this yr.
ABC Vancouver
Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver says it might plant 100,000 trees in town over the following 4 years, with a give attention to neighbourhoods which have historically been neglected from tree coverage.
It says it might speed up town’s 2040 Zero Waste plan to 2035, and establish a versatile GHG reduction policy framework with a ‘No Net Latest GHGs’ (N3GHG) standard as a condition of approval of any development permits.
It could pass a bylaw requiring all latest business and multi-family buildings include electric vehicle parking stalls, and phase out all gas-powered vehicles in town fleet inside six years.
It could have a look at a tax credit system for residents who don’t own a automotive, and work with BC Hydro to deliver a curb-side electric vehicle partnership.
The party says it might also daylight and restore not less than one paved-over stream by the top of 2026.
OneCity Vancouver
OneCity Vancouver would mandate cooling able to maintaining 26 C in all homes and buildings and speed up permitting for energy efficiency and electrification in large buildings.
It could ban latest gas hookups and latest gas appliances, require gas furnaces by phased out by 2035, and supply incentives from constructing owners to disconnect from gas. OneCity would also ban gas leaf blowers ,lawn mowers and wee whackers.
It could replace mandatory minimum parking for brand new buildings with maximum parking as an alternative.
It could require all latest city fleet purchases, including police cars, to be electric vehicles and have a look at which vehicles could possibly be replaced with electric bikes, with a full fleet electrification goal of 2030.
Managers for business fleet vehicles could be required to purchase citywide parking permits.
The party would supply space for a year-round farmers’ market, restore compost collection in parks and require city-owned food and beverage vendors to supply vegetarian and vegan options.
It could support demonstration Indigenous food forests and offer cooking and preserving classes at community kitchens.
COPE
COPE has yet to unveil a selected climate platform.
It is asking for reduced transit fares for all riders, and free transit passes to low-income Vancouverites through the prevailing BC Bus Pass program, an initiative it says would cost $52 million.
Non-Partisan Association
Fred Harding’s NPA has yet to unveil a climate platform.
