Together, “Keep Building Vancouver” and “Vancouver Agenda” target housing, public safety, healthcare and other city priorities
VANCOUVER, October 5, 2026 — Today, Mayor Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver unveiled a plan that builds on the success of the last four years and continues to accelerate home-building across the city, while calling on the next provincial government to step up on major municipal challenges.
ABC’s Keep Building Vancouver housing plan sets out the next phase of the party’s approach to housing: getting approved projects under construction faster, expanding housing choices for families and workers, unlocking City-owned land, and continuing to reduce the cost and complexity of building homes.
At the same time, ABC’s new Vancouver Agenda identifies 10 specific actions it wants the next provincial government to commit to delivering.
“Some of the biggest challenges facing our city require every level of government at the table,” said Mayor Ken Sim. “Our plan is about building more homes, creating more choices and making Vancouver more affordable, while being clear about where we need the Province to step up.”
Keep Building Vancouver
ABC’s housing plan builds on impressive progress over the past four years. In 2025, Vancouver approved 12,795 new homes, including 10,277 purpose-built rental homes, while more than 2,300 purpose-built market rental homes were completed in what was the highest annual total in more than 40 years.
The next phase will focus on speeding approvals so even more homes can be built. ABC will continue to drive towards its 3-3-3-1 permitting framework, expand combined development and building permits, increase the use of digital approvals and pre-approved designs, and identify more applications suitable for accelerated or automated review.
The City has already reported a 50 per cent reduction in laneway-home permitting times, a 36 per cent reduction for detached homes, and a 46 per cent reduction in development-permit processing times for multi-family and mid-rise housing.
ABC will also:
- Build more “missing middle” housing, making townhomes, rowhouses, multiplexes and family-sized apartments easier to build across Vancouver and expanding the catalogue of pre-approved fourplex and sixplex designs.
- Put more City land to work for middle-income housing, using long-term leases and partnerships to create market rental, strata and co-op homes while retaining public ownership of valuable land.
- Explore a temporary “Start Building Vancouver” incentive that would reduce or defer eligible City fees for approved projects that begin construction within a defined period, with potential enhanced incentives for rental, family-sized and below-market housing.
- Accelerate housing around transit, major corridors and neighbourhoods, focusing development where the City has already determined additional housing should go.
- Create a Vancouver workforce housing program, pursuing partnerships with employers, unions, non-profits and senior governments to create homes for nurses, teachers, firefighters, police officers, childcare workers and other middle-income workers.
“Our goal is a Vancouver where young people can build their lives, families can find homes that work for them, seniors can stay in the communities they know and the people who keep our city running have a realistic opportunity to live here,” Mayor Sim said. “That means more supply, more choice and faster construction.”
A Vancouver Agenda for the upcoming provincial election
ABC says municipal action alone will not address Vancouver’s housing and affordability challenges.
Its Vancouver Agenda calls on the Province to establish a multi-year program to replace aging single-room occupancy buildings with safe, self-contained homes with private bathrooms and kitchens, backed by sustained BC Housing capital funding.
The party also wants a binding regional “fair-share” framework so supportive housing and shelter capacity is distributed more evenly across Metro Vancouver, rather than concentrated disproportionately in Vancouver.
The housing approach would measure progress through affordability and results, with an emphasis on increasing supply, raising vacancy rates, lowering barriers to construction and supporting purpose-built rental, co-op, market-entry and other forms of housing.
Beyond housing, the Vancouver Agenda calls for:
- At least 100 new involuntary and secure-care beds in Vancouver, with identified sites, a delivery timeline and permanent operating funding.
- Provincial measures addressing public hard-drug use where shelter and treatment options exist.
- A stronger accountability framework for social and supportive housing operators with persistent serious safety problems.
- Provincial school-tax revenue collected in Vancouver to be directed back toward Vancouver students.
- More provincial resources for prosecutors, courts and other justice-system needs, along with stronger port-security measures.
- A stable, multi-year childcare funding model that grows alongside Vancouver’s population and housing supply.
“Vancouver cannot be expected to face regional and provincial challenges on its own,” said Sim. “We will keep building, keep improving City Hall and keep delivering the services Vancouverites rely on. In return, we expect the Province to be a serious partner in building a safer, more affordable and stronger Vancouver.”
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Media contact:
media@abcvancouver.ca