As election race heats up, Vancouver mayoral candidate pitches plan to keep homes cool
Vancouver mayoral candidate Amanda Burrows is pitching a homes retrofit program to update low-rise apartments, co-ops, and non-market housing with electric heat pumps to keep them cool.
“Older apartment buildings across Vancouver rely on aging gas boilers, lack adequate cooling, and expose residents to extreme heat and wildfire smoke. These low-rise buildings are the backbone of our affordable housing stock, and they are at risk,” said Burrows in a release.
Burrows, who is currently seeking a mayoral nomination with municipal political party OneCity Vancouver, is advocating for “the right to cool,” the idea of keeping homes under 26°C.
When the temperature inside a building is over 26°C, there’s a higher risk of heat-related illness and even death. In B.C., all new residential homes are now required to keep temperatures below this threshold.
Concerns about the impacts of heat were sparked by the unprecedented 2021 heat dome, where at least 619 people in B.C. died, 98 per cent of them indoors.
According to a report from Vancouver Coastal Health, these risks increase for people with physical vulnerabilities (like older age and some medical conditions), living in a place without much green space, and things like poverty and social isolation that might prevent people from accessing cooling inside and outside their homes.
If elected, Burrows said she would work with BC Hydro and the provincial and federal governments so that they can coordinate rebates, capital funding, and grid planning.
Upgrading existing buildings in Vancouver would preserve “affordable homes instead of triggering displacement.”
“Climate change is already here,” said Burrows. “It’s seniors trapped in overheating apartments, renters choosing between rent and hydro, families breathing smoke inside their own homes. Climate action has to make life safer and more affordable.”
The Vancouver election
Fellow OneCity candidate William Azaroff is also looking for the mayoral nomination for the party.
Other mayoral candidates include former ABC councillor Rebecca Bligh and Vancouver Liberals’ Kareem Allam.
Both Green Party Councillor Pete Fry and former Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart have expressed interest in running.
The Vancouver mayoral election will take place on Oct. 17, 2026.