Kareem Allam unveils Vancouver Liberal's housing plan | Daily Hive

Kareem Allam

The Vancouver Liberals unveiled their housing plan today, promising to make construction of new housing cheaper and faster if the party and mayoral candidate Kareem Allam win in the upcoming municipal election.

They said they will scrap the Vancouver Building By-law, which regulates the city’s construction. They also promised to merge the 12 departments that approve new housing developments into one.

“It took JFK eight years to get a man on the moon, and right now it takes Vancouver eight years to build a high-rise apartment building. This rate of construction isn’t going to address issues happening now,” said Allam in a statement.

“If things don’t change, development will continue to lag behind Vancouver’s needs.”

The Vancouver Liberals said it would adopt the B.C. Building Code instead.

“All that extra time to follow the steps supporting this unique by-law adds years and years of wait times for every single project,” said Allam. “That adds millions of dollars to every high-rise project.”

What are the other parties’ housing platforms?

Pete Fry, mayoral candidate for the Green Party of Vancouver, has promised to approve homes faster, provide more housing choices, and prioritize Canadian-built construction. The Green Party promised to launch pre-approved housing designs and work with Build Canada Homes to attract investment and fast-track qualifying projects.

The party said that they would support the Vancouver Building By-law to allow “innovative climate, mechanical, and built-form solutions, including mass timber and decarbonization.”

Rebecca Bligh, a current city councillor who is running for mayor under the Vote Vancouver banner, shared the main pillars of her party’s platform earlier this month, which included building permanently affordable homes for middle-income earners on public land, with not-for-profit childcare included in all new developments.

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, with mayoral candidate Colleen Hardwick, said that governments and the private sector would work together to deliver housing that middle-income households can afford, while also prioritizing low-income, supportive, and secure rental housing.

Ken Sim and the ABC Vancouver party, who are currently seeking re-election, released their election platform earlier this week, with public safety, affordability, and jobs and economy as its main pillars. They have not released their full policy document as of yet, nor have they revealed details about housing so far.

Voting day is Oct. 17.

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