The City of Vancouver announced its full commitment to aligning itself with the province’s recently unveiled housing targets.

“Vancouver is ready to take the lead on building new housing. We have said getting homes built requires an all hands on deck approach, and we are pleased to see clear support from the province to build the homes that we need to tackle the housing crisis head on,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim. “The City of Vancouver is fully committed to do what it takes to make sure we have attainable housing for everyone who calls our city home.”

Over the next five years, the city will be working diligently to meet or exceed the provincial target of 28,900 new completed units of housing.

“Targets involving completion will require the joint effort of the city and the province to manage factors that are outside many municipalities’ control,” said City Manager Paul Mochrie. “These include access to funding and financing for market and non-market developers, high interest rates, increased cost of construction and availability of labour. While municipal governments, including Vancouver, cannot control many of the factors affecting completion of housing projects, we can control approvals and we are focused intensely on simplifying and expediting that process.”

The city has already taken substantial steps to improve housing approvals, including by introducing new technologies and simplifying regulations to streamline permitting. Recently, council also approved a proposal to evolve low-density zones to allow multiplexes and enable missing middle housing. Together, these initiatives will make it easier to build new housing with simpler rules and processes, supporting council’s 3-3-3-1 Permit Approval Framework.