Vancouver City Council backs natural gas use in new homes, reviews multiplexes | Daily Hive

Example of a multiplex in Vancouver. (Capture Energy)

Vancouver City Council made two significant housing-related decisions last week that could influence how homes are built across the city for years to come.

One decision focused on the City of Vancouver’s energy policy and the use of natural gas in new homes. The other launched a review of the City’s multiplex housing policies, a key part of Vancouver’s strategy to increase housing supply in low-density residential neighbourhoods.

City Council voted to repeal Vancouver’s zero-emission heating requirements for new homes, which had effectively required space and water heating systems to rely on electricity or other low-emission technologies such as heat pumps. This specific decision asks City staff to come back with the necessarily bylaw changes to enable natural gas to once again be used for space and water heating in new residential construction.

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Following the direction of City Council, City staff will look at ways to better align the Vancouver Building Bylaw with the B.C. Building Code followed by all other municipal governments. Under the legislation of the Vancouver Charter, Vancouver has its own standalone set of building code regulations that are different than the ones regulated by the provincial government for all other jurisdictions.

As well, City staff will repeal the Energize Vancouver policies that require owners and strata corporations of large buildings to submit annual energy and carbon emissions reports, which mayor Ken Sim argues have impacted housing affordability by increasing operating costs with little benefit.

These measures were packed within the approval of a member motion put forward by Sim, with his ABC Vancouver city councillors voting with him in favour of the outlined approaches. This was preceded by considerable opposition from climate activists and some housing advocates and medical professionals, who spoke to City Council against the motion. But the motion’s contents were also strongly supported by a number of businesses, industry stakeholders, and trades and manufacturers.

Sim asserts that these measures are guided by putting affordability as the top consideration

“Poll after poll shows the same thing: public safety and affordability are the defining issues facing Vancouverites. People want a City Hall that understands that reality and acts on it,” said Sim in a statement, adding that “Council made a choice: lower costs, more flexibility, and less red tape.”

“Every extra rule, every added delay, and every layer of bureaucracy gets passed directly onto the people trying to afford rent, buy a home, or keep a small business alive in this city.”

Just before the decision, B.C. minister of housing and municipal affairs Christine Boyle wrote to the mayor and City Council, urging them to delay any policy changes until Fall 2026, when the provincial government is expected to complete a cost and impact analysis that will help guide the future direction of the Energy Step Code and Zero Carbon Step Code.

Boyle, who prioritized, championed, and voted in favour of a range of climate-action policies during her previous time on Vancouver City Council, noted in her letter that the City of Vancouver has been a leader in green building practices for more than a decade and that its leadership has been recognized nationally and internationally.

In response, mayor Sim accused Boyle of attempting to intervene in a municipal decision. He also suggested her position was hypocritical, arguing that the BC NDP-led provincial government is actively supporting major liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects for economic and revenue benefits, while asking City Council to reject a motion that would allow natural gas use in new homes. Sim said the proposed changes would improve housing affordability and provide residents with greater choice in how they heat their homes.

As well, in his motion, the mayor highlighted that the federal consumer carbon tax and provincial carbon tax were removed in 2025 as an affordability measure, including for natural gas residential customers.

Sim’s motion requests City staff to quickly come back to City Council on the next steps to formalize the new approach, but it remains to be seen whether this will be done before the municipal government’s August break and the start of the campaign cycle ahead of the October 2026 civic election.

This is also the second time in the last two years that City Council has relitigated the natural gas issue; a member motion by ABC city councillor Brian Montague to restore the ability for natural gas heating in new home construction was approved in July 2024, but a subsequent final decision in November 2024 on approving the recommendations outlined by City staff received a tied vote, when some ABC city councillors joined the opposition to keep the natural gas ban in place for such structures.

In a separately approved member motion put forward by ABC city councillor Lenny Zhou last week, City Council also directed City staff to conduct an expedited review of Vancouver’s multiplex housing policies — signalling a desire to perform a closer look at whether one of the municipal government’s most significant housing initiatives is producing the results that were promised.

Multiplexes allow a low-rise structure of several homes to be built on a single-family lot that might previously have contained only one traditional detached house. In recent years, Vancouver’s municipal government has expanded opportunities for multiplex development as part of its effort to encourage so-called missing-middle housing — homes that offer more density than single-family houses but are much smaller in scale than mid-rise apartments. The provincial government has also enacted legislation that requires municipalities across B.C., including Vancouver, to enable such gentle densification of single-family neighbourhoods.

So far, over 600 multiplex proposals have been submitted to the municipal government, and over 280 projects have been approved.

However, a growing number of residents across B.C. have raised concerns about the proliferation of the provincially-mandated multiplex developments that are out of character in their neighbourhoods, including in Metro Vancouver and Vancouver itself. Their concerns often centre on the height, size and massing of these buildings, as well as potential impacts on privacy, overlooking, shadowing, tree retention, green space and views.

However, here is a recent example of a multiplex built under the 2023 policy, which lacks design guidelines. It is not the only example – but clearly illustrates why I believe a review of this policy is urgently needed. I am hopeful councillors will support this review. #vanpoli pic.twitter.com/W9yLt9fSWj

— Peter Meiszner (@PeterMeiszner) May 22, 2026

Through the motion’s approval, City Council directed City staff to perform an expedited review of the multiplex housing policies and regulations, and to align the municipal government’s policies for such structures with the provincial legislation for small-scale, multi-unit housing. City staff will also consider improving, clarifying, and refining the design guidelines for multiplexes.

Other municipal governments have already moved to amend their multiplex policies in response to similar concerns, including the October 2025 decision made by Burnaby City Council to cut down on the size of such buildings.

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