Increasing the maximum allowable floor plate size for Vancouver’s residential towers is just one item listed in Mayor Ken Sim’s proposed motion to tackle the city’s housing crisis. Doing so would allow for greater design flexibility to unlock more housing units.

Other items he plans to bring before Vancouver City Council further prioritize the construction of new housing in Vancouver, while outlining clear policy objectives to cooperate with senior levels of government on. They include working with senior levels of government to express the City’s support for increased enforcement of short-term rentals.

The motion also proposes to:

• Accelerate the implementation of the 26 Village Areas outlined in the Vancouver Plan to facilitate the construction of townhouses, multiplex buildings, and mixed-use low-rise buildings between three to six storeys.
• Explore the steps and measures to harmonize and otherwise align the Vancouver Building By-law (CBO) with the BC Building Code (BCBC), which governs how new construction, building alterations, repairs and demolitions are completed, for a more rapid delivery of housing.
• Review the City’s Shadow Impact Criteria and Guidelines.
• Explore opportunities to expand and improve the City’s Certified Professional (CP) program to more efficiently and effectively deliver a wide range of housing.
• Explore opportunities to increase housing density through the rezoning of lands in proximity to the city’s underdeveloped SkyTrain stations, such as Nanaimo Station, 29th Avenue Station, Renfrew Station, and Rupert Station.

“Since being elected just over a year ago with a significant majority on council, we have heard one thing over and over: people can’t afford to live here,” Mayor Sim said in a statement released today. “We’ve already made the most significant changes to zoning in decades, we’ve streamlined regulations and permit approvals, and today, we are doubling down on our efforts to unleash a new wave of building in our city. With a vacancy rate below one per cent, we need all hands on deck to build more homes right across the city. If adopted by council, that’s exactly what this motion will do.”