What Vancouver’s New Mayor Has Planned for Us

Last fall, the city of Vancouver elected Kennedy Stewart as mayor, making him the first independent candidate to hold that office in more than thirty years. In a field of 21 candidates, Stewart narrowly – by less than 1,000 votes – beat out the Non-Partisan Association candidate Ken Sim. The NPAs are historically the most dominant party in Vancouver politics, winning support over the years for their pro-business policies. ( Sim, when asked by the CBC about his priorities, somewhat bewilderingly said, “I don’t think there is necessarily anything wrong.” With any sense of political savvy, Sim might have made up those 1,000 votes.)

But now we have Kennedy Stewart, the man who was famously arrested last March for protesting the Trans Mountain Pipeline. The dominant issue of the campaign was, of course, the housing crisis, and Stewart won based on his plans and promises. So what, exactly, did he promise?

First, he’s pledged to build 25,000 non-profit affordable homes over the next decade, available to anyone with up to an $80,000 income. He also pledged to help first time buyers enter the market through the construction of 35,000 condo units, coach houses and townhomes , as well as to renew leases on 6,000 co-op units.

At an affordable housing conference in November, he elaborated on these plans. In a speech to over 1,400 housing advocates, providers and policy analysts, Stewart said that we can’t allow the market to provide our housing any longer if we want to remain a strong and stable city. He plans to focus on boosting co-operative and other non-profit housing in the city to keep it affordable and to stop the exodus of the middle class.

And like a lot of Vancouver mayors before him, he not only wants to serve our citizens – he hopes to become a “global model” of clever governance. But any policy that’s made to please Denmark and not Dunbar is probably doomed to fail.

We at ENM would love the chance to work with Stewart and the city on building some of their proposed 25,000 affordable homes. And Stewart, to his credit, hasn’t completely disavowed working with developers, saying that it would be foolish to attack those you’ll have to work with later.

Our co-founder, Daniel Greenhalgh, wants ENM to be part of the solution to the housing crisis through building purpose-built rental projects, as well as working with non-profits to construct affordable homes.

“We’re certainly open to those kinds of partnerships, with the city acting as a facilitator. We believe that the best way out of the affordability crisis is to build more homes that are designed and priced for the working class, and that the city and provincial governments have the means and the mandate to help make those projects and those relationships happen. It’s a lot better than trying to tax our way out of the crisis. It’s productive, and as builders, we want to produce.”