In a continuation of efforts calling for a housing reset at all levels of government, a group of urbanists sent a joint letter today, September 12, to City of Vancouver Mayor Sim and Councillors entitled “Broadway Plan Rezoning and Transit Oriented Areas Policy.” This precedes two major Council decisions in the coming days, a Public Hearing September 16 on “Standardized Apartment Districts and City-Initiated Zoning Changes to Implement Broadway Plan and Cambie Corridor Plan,” and a Council Committee meeting September 17 on “City-Wide Design and Development Guidelines – Phase Two Actions.”
This letter reinforces and builds upon points on “Advancing Housing Affordability Through Bold, Evidence-Based Policy” sent by mostly the same signatories on July 22 (linked here) to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Gregor Robertson emphasizing federal housing policy, and a letter on August 15 (linked here) to B.C. Premier David Eby and B.C. Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Christine Boyle, emphasizing provincial housing policy.
The Metro Vancouver based group of prominent urbanists, urban planners, architects, developers, and academics — with decades of experience in housing policy, urban planning, architecture, urban design, and real estate development — joined together to broaden the search for enduring housing solutions.
Excerpt: “Vancouver’s housing crisis demands a reset in how we use public policy to achieve affordability. Just doing more of the same failed model of demolishing / displacing older more affordable housing, and inflating land values for the wrong supply of towers with expensive small units for condos or rental, is making the affordability crisis worse, not better.”
Conclusion: We encourage and support building more affordable livable housing rather than continuing to build the wrong kinds of housing, in the wrong places, for the wrong reasons. The City of Vancouver can prioritize affordable housing by restoring affordability as the central objective of housing policy. That means resisting short-term pressure to rescue flawed models and instead embracing long-term investment in public, non-profit, and community-led housing. It also means preserving existing affordability, and building new homes that serve real people, not just markets.
We request that you refer back to staff the current proposals for the Broadway Plan Rezoning and the policy amendments for Solar Access and TOAs Rezoning Policy. These are all related and need to be reconsidered with broad public consultation and input as stakeholders beyond primarily the development industry.
The six key points are as follows:
- Vancouver’s housing strategy must deliver affordability—not just more supply
- Use the market correction as an opportunity—not something to resist
- Public subsidies must deliver public benefit outcomes
- Preserve what’s affordable—don’t displace it
- Reform delivery and financing models to align with residents’ needs— needs. Reconsider the City’s response to the BC Bills 44 & 47 in proforma-driven Broadway Plan Rezoning Districts and Transit Oriented Areas (TOAs) Rezoning Policy
- There has been a lack of public engagement with only the development industry consulted
The document (PDF) can be downloaded directly from Google Drive here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WikBsn7BWdRWzI751jjEvM9IA-SMkgKO/view?usp=sharing
View PDF version (on screen)
On social media this group is using these hashtags: #HousingReset #HousingResetCanada #HousingResetBC #HousingResetVancouver
Also, stay tuned for the launch of the HousingReset.ca website.
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Full text follows
September 12, 2025
To: City of Vancouver Mayor Sim and Councillors
Re: Broadway Plan Rezoning and Transit Oriented Areas Policy
We are a Metro Vancouver region-based group of urbanists, urban planners, architects, and UBC/SFU academics, most with decades of experience, some with a background in development, who have joined together to broaden the search for enduring housing solutions.
We are writing to you to address two related issues: the City initiated Broadway Plan rezoning; and the Transit Oriented Areas (TOAs) Policy and Design Guidelines with the new Council Memo. Both are based on the same flawed principles of promoting more supply entitlements that fail to address the main issue of lack of affordable housing. In fact they are only serving the development industry’s benefits, that is doing more harm than good for the public interest. We therefore oppose these reports as written.
Recently we have written to both the Government of Canada (in July and August) and the Province of BC (August), of which you were copied. Vancouver’s housing crisis demands a reset in how we use public policy to achieve affordability. Just doing more of the same failed model of demolishing / displacing older more affordable housing, and inflating land values for the wrong supply of towers with expensive small units for condos or rental, is making the affordability crisis worse, not better.
The current market correction presents an opportunity—not a threat. Governments should not bail out speculative development models by giving away yet more proforma-driven development entitlements that destabilize and displace existing older more affordable housing in established neighbourhoods. Instead use this moment to invest in non-market housing, preserve existing affordability, ensure that public subsidies serve long-term public outcomes, and also reconsider how the City addresses the Broadway Plan Rezoning and the Transit Oriented Areas (TOAs) Policy for better affordability outcomes.
1. Vancouver’s housing strategy must deliver affordability—not just more supply
Vancouver’s housing crisis is, above all, a crisis of affordability. Supply has increased significantly in Vancouver—where housing starts have outpaced population growth for decades—yet prices remain disconnected from incomes. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F8vBdAL7iUWlsceT7wtorlCt58_sh_LT/view?usp=sharing
Current inventory supply of unsold condos and new vacant market rentals are at record highs.
Without addressing land value inflation, financial speculation, and tenure security, supply-side interventions risk worsening the very crisis they aim to solve.
2. Use the market correction as an opportunity—not something to resist
- Do not use public funds and upzoning to bail out overleveraged speculative developments.
- Take advantage of falling land costs and freed-up skilled labour to invest in non-profit, co-op, community land trusts, and public housing that will remain affordable long-term.
- Policy—not just construction—can influence affordability. Recent short-term rental regulations, adjusted immigration targets, bans on foreign buyers, tenancy protections and other demand-side measures have already helped reduce pressure on rents and sale prices as we are now seeing in the market.
- Work with the Province and Feds to reconsider how presales are mandated by financial institutions for condo multifamily development. This has contributed to investor-driven small expensive units that are the wrong supply. While it will not totally fix this issue, new modified requirements might help.
3. Public subsidies must deliver public benefit outcomes
- City approved increased density bonuses through rezoning and waiving development fees are forms of public subsidies that should not be given away without public benefits.
- Require minimum livability and unit size standards, especially for family-friendly housing.
- Ensure affordability is defined relative to local incomes, not market medians, and is long term permanently secured through strong covenants and housing agreements, not subsidies to REITs.
- Reducing affordable rental rates from 20% to 10% as proposed is a further subsidy without benefit.
4. Preserve what’s affordable—don’t displace it
- Make tenant protection and zero net-loss of affordable units a priority, mostly through protecting existing rental buildings from demolition.
- The Broadway Plan Rezoning is instead using economic testing to ensure that the new District Schedules for rezoning will be economically advantageous to demolish existing older apartment buildings. This is the wrong approach since most of these older buildings contain most of the city’s existing affordable rentals that should be retained, not demolished.
- Retain existing rental buildings by avoiding redevelopment and supporting rehabilitation & retrofits of existing rental buildings as climate-resilient, affordability-preserving alternatives to demolition.
- Recognize the human toll of displacement—the best tenant protections are to protect existing rental buildings.
- Ensure that public subsidies and zoning do not create the wrong kinds of supply that inflate land values and market rents, with the impacts on land values of tower development in particular, and instead work with the Feds and the Province to use more subsidies for true affordability, in larger ground oriented suites for families that is in such great demand.
5. Reform delivery and financing models to align with residents’ needs – reconsider the City’s response to the BC Bills 44 & 47 in proforma-driven Broadway Plan Rezoning Districts and Transit Oriented Areas (TOAs) Rezoning Policy
- Avoid making towers the default solution. Towers have their place, but they are not always the best form. The right supply is livable, secure, and suited to local neighbourhoods and larger units for families, without triggering demovictions. Even TOAs require a mix of housing forms to meet local needs and context, including such forms as infill, townhouses and low to midrise apartments.
- Reconsider the BC zoning Bills 44 & 47 (2023) & 18 (2024) that are not providing affordable housing. They are inflating land values, massive speculation, demovictions and displacement, while creating the wrong kind of supply that is mostly small expensive units in oversized market towers
- Engage the Province to allow municipalities and regions with more flexibility in how Official Development Plans and Transit Oriented Areas are implemented. Cities are built on grids, not arbitrary circles around transit which should only be a guide in principle, not for literal implementation. Allow more discretion for form of development near transit to better align with infrastructure, amenities, and community local context. Avoid one-size-fits-all approaches.
- Stop heavy reliance on spot rezoning. Do not disregard Community Plans & local context for arbitrary spot rezoning in citywide TOAs Rezoning Policy amendments as proposed. Even the Broadway Plan Rezoning still allows spot rezoning for towers in lower density areas.
- Avoid sole directives of proforma-driven Broadway Plan Rezoning Districts that are too heavily relying on proforma numbers that are creating plans that are based on assumed financials of a moment in time when area-wide plans should be planning for many decades of growth. This assumes that large densities must be provided in order to demolish existing affordable rentals. Planning should be based on many considerations for built form, not just proforma numbers that will change over time. For example, community needs, infrastructure, the impacts on the climate of removing mature trees, demolition, embodied energy and concrete construction in large towers.
- The RT5, RT6, RT7 & RT8 zones provide a good source of rental and ownership housing that uses heritage & character house retention options for multifamily conversions and infill that is in high demand for family oriented housing in larger ground oriented units. These zones should be retained with future updates, not replaced with R1-1 that does not address the local context.
- Provide City policy incentives to encourage individual end-users to build more secondary suites and infill developments that can create both more rentals and mortgage helpers.
- Support gentle, ground-oriented density options that better match household needs and local context while supporting the forestry sector through the use of more affordable sustainable wood frame construction at a variety of scales, including character/heritage multifamily conversions.
6. Lack of public engagement with only the development industry consulted
- The public and local communities are no longer considered by the City to be stakeholders, even when the changes to policies and plans substantially affect them. Only the development industry are being consulted for major amendments to policies on Solar Access, TOAs Rezoning Policy, overriding and repeal of area Design Guidelines and Community Plans.
- Industry proformas are given priority over public needs in the Broadway Plan Rezoning.
- The public are the primary stakeholder and should not be disregarded or excluded in favour of development industry lobby benefits that are not aligned with the public interest.
- Provide transparent, publicly available, timely and geographically comparable metrics on unit types, size, prevailing vacant and occupied rents, sales prices, net growth and loss of units, zoned capacity numbers, and tenancy displacement as a result of the Broadway Plan Rezoning, as a basis for public consultation and planning.
- The new Broadway Plan Rezoning will provide decreased transparency and accountability in the development process. Public notification and on-site signage for development applications, even for towers, will not be mandatory, but rather required only at staff’s discretion. So most people may not know what is happening in their area until development starts onsite.
Conclusion: We encourage and support building more affordable livable housing rather than continuing to build the wrong kinds of housing, in the wrong places, for the wrong reasons.The City of Vancouver can prioritize affordable housing by restoring affordability as the central objective of housing policy. That means resisting short-term pressure to rescue flawed models and instead embracing long-term investment in public, non-profit, and community-led housing. It also means preserving existing affordability, and building new homes that serve real people, not just markets.
We request that you refer back to staff the current proposals for the Broadway Plan Rezoning and the policy amendments for Solar Access and TOAs Rezoning Policy. These are all related and need to be reconsidered with broad public consultation and input as stakeholders beyond primarily the development industry.
We welcome the opportunity to meet with you and staff to explore how these strategies can shape a more sustainable and just housing future for all Vancouverites. To arrange a meeting, please contact us at your earliest convenience.
Signed: (In alphabetical order on two pages below)
Larry Beasley, CM, FCIP, Former Co-chief Planner of Vancouver, author Vancouverism
Patrick Condon, Professor Emeritus UBC School of Landscape and Architecture, author Broken City. Former head city planner
Frank Ducote, Principal, Frank Ducote Urban Design, former Senior Urban Designer, City of Vancouver
Dr. Alexandra Flynn, Associate Professor, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia and Co-Director, Housing Research Collaborative (which includes the Housing Assessment Resource Tools project and the Balanced Supply of Housing Node)
Michael Geller,FCIP, RPP, MLAI, Ret Architect AIBC, urban planner, real estate consultant, developer and Adjunct Professor, SFU.
Barbara Gordon, Retired Architect AIBC and retired Director of Capital Planning, UBC
Penny Gurstein, PhD, MCIP (ret.) Professor Emeritus and Former Director, School of Community and Regional Planning, Co-Director, Housing Research Collaborative, UBC
Scot Hein, Retired Architect MAIBC/Former COV and UBC Senior Urban Designer and Development Planner/Adjunct Professor Urban Design UBC/SFU Faculty Continuing Studies/Founding Board Member Urbanarium/Board Member Small Housing BC/Housing Advocate
Signers Continued:
Norman Hotson, Retired Architect AIBC, FRAIC, RCA, Hon PIBC
Sandy James, former City of Vancouver City Planner, Managing Director Walk Metro Vancouver
David Ley,OC, FRSC, PhD, Urban Geographer, Professor Emeritus UBC, Order of Canada
Bill McCreery, former registered architect AIBC & AAA, helped create North & South False Creek & thousands of units of developer, public & social housing in BC, Alberta & UK, developed several Vancouver residential projects
Sean McEwen, Architect, AIBC, FRAIC. Affordable housing advocate
Graham McGarva, FRAIC, Retired Architect AIBC, M.A.
Elizabeth Murphy, private sector project manager, and senior property development officer, formerly with the City of Vancouver’s housing and properties department, BC Housing and BC Buildings Corp
Brian Palmquist,Award winning architect and author, AIBC MRAIC BEP CP LEED AP
Tom Phipps, Retired Senior Planner City of Vancouver (33 years)
Mary Pynenburg MRAIC (Retired) MCIP (Retired) Former Director of Planning City of New Westminster, Former Director of Planning and Development City of Kelowna, former Director of Design / Development CP Hotels
Robert Renger, BES, MCP; Consultant City Planner; Former Senior Development Planner and City’s lead for UniverCity at SFU, City of Burnaby
Mary Beth Rondeau, Ret Architect AIBC Former Urban Designer City of Vancouver
Ralph Segal,MAIBC (ret.) Former Chief Urban Designer / Development Planner, City of Vancouver
Ray Spaxman, ARIBA (Rtd), MRTPI (Rtd,) FCIP, Hon AIBC, LL.D, Director of Planning, City of Vancouver 1973-1989
Sara Stevens, PhD, Associate Professor UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Chair of Urban Design, Co-founder of Architects Against Housing Alienation
Erick Villagomez, Lecturer UBC School of Community and Regional Planning, Principal, Mētis Design | Build, Editor-in-Chief, Spacing Vancouver
Arny Wise, B. Comm., M.Sc., RPP, MCIP (ret), urban planner/ retired developer (President, Synergy Develop., VP Development, Goldfan Holdings), Board of Directors Toronto Economic Development Corporation (1990-1999)
David Wong, Architect, AIBC; formerly with Engineering & Planning Dept. City of Vancouver
Elvin Wyly, Urban Geographer, Housing Researcher
Andy Yan, FCIP, RPP, GISP Director, City Program, Lifelong Learning and Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Urban Studies Program, Simon Fraser University
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