City council has approved a long-term plan aimed at helping shape Vancouver’s future.
The Vancouver Plan, simply titled, outlines the city’s land use strategy and will be used in urban planning towards 2050.
In an interview with CTV News about its approval, Mayor Kennedy Stewart described the plan as “guided by the promise to make every neighborhood more affordable, equitable and vibrant.”
“Anyone should be able to rent anywhere in the city and everyone should have the opportunity to buy anywhere in the city,” Stewart said.
The plan sets out in writing the goals for affordable housing options in walkable communities, according to the mayor.
Focuses include the city’s “underutilized neighborhoods,” as well as increased multifamily housing and more rental units on the market.
“There’s a lot of this city, for example south of 16th (Avenue) that’s been closed off to single-family homes for a long time,” Stewart said. “Vancouver’s plan will change that and provide more opportunities to rent and buy.”
The plan was made public in late June, ahead of a July council presentation. Just before he was introduced, the mayor decided to add controversial measures that he said would amount to the “strongest protections for renters in Canada.”
Critics panned the addition, which was structured similarly to protections built into the equally controversial Broadway Plan.
One councilor said the addition “took us all by surprise”, saying the measures were unrealistic.
Under the city’s two plans, tenants would have first right of refusal to return to redevelopment properties from which they had been evicted for renovations or new construction.
They could move into the new buildings for the same rent or less, with the builders expected to cover the moving costs.
It’s something that made some builders nervous, and Stewart himself admitted that it could lead to developers needing to include more units in future projects in order to recoup those extra costs.
On Friday, the mayor thanked the council for supporting those tenant protections in its approval of the plan.