Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver released a housing platform proposing incentives to start construction sooner, build 4,200 rentals on City-owned land, and expand permitting targets ahead of the Oct. 17, 2026 civic election.
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Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver released its “Keep Building Vancouver” housing platform on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, outlining proposals aimed at moving approved projects into construction faster, expanding rental housing, and tightening accountability for supportive housing operators.
The platform combines what ABC says it wants to pursue under City jurisdiction with demands directed at the next Government of British Columbia, ahead of the civic election on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026 and the provincial general election on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026.
ABC also released a broader “Vancouver Agenda” platform on Oct. 5, covering 10 priorities including housing and public safety, and describing what it says it would do in its first 100 days if re-elected.
On housing incentives, ABC says it would explore a temporary “Start Building Vancouver” program that could lower certain municipal fees and/or allow developers to pay them later if an approved project begins construction within a specified period. The platform materials do not specify which fees would qualify, how much relief would be available, or the deadline for starting construction.
ABC also proposes incentives for rental housing, larger homes for families, and homes rented below market rates, alongside a workforce housing initiative seeking partnerships with employers, unions, non-profit organizations, and the provincial and federal governments to help people working in Vancouver find homes in the city.
Under another proposal, ABC wants to expand housing development on publicly owned land by giving the City’s Vancouver Housing Development Office (VHDO) a stronger role in identifying vacant parcels, older civic properties, and other underused City-owned sites for housing, while retaining or replacing existing public amenities where needed.
ABC says the City would keep ownership of the land and make it available through long-term leases and partnerships. It says third-party organizations would build and operate a mix of secured purpose-built market rental housing, strata market residential ownership housing, and co-operative housing, with the City receiving ongoing revenue.
ABC says an initial set of City-owned sites has been identified with development potential for approximately 4,200 middle-income rental homes, and that the approach would create a new source of non-tax revenue for the municipal government.
ABC says it would also accelerate permitting and make smaller housing developments easier to build by expanding pre-approved designs, including buildings with four or six homes, to reduce design expenses and approval delays for homeowners and smaller builders.
It proposes reviewing regulations it says add unnecessary costs to three-bedroom and other family-sized homes, and speed up implementation of the City’s Official Development Plan (ODP) around SkyTrain stations, major streets, and neighbourhoods identified for growth.
ABC says it would continue working toward its 3-3-3-1 permitting targets: three days for renovations, three weeks for single-family detached houses, three months for multi-family and mid-rise developments, and one year for high-rise towers and other large projects. It says more applications would be processed through combined development and building permits, digital systems, and faster or automated reviews where suitable, and that projects already meeting zoning and building requirements should proceed with fewer delays.
To support its approach, ABC points to City statistics showing 12,795 homes approved in 2025, which it says is 54 per cent above the annual target, including 10,277 secured purpose-built rental homes. The platform also cites over 2,300 completions of secured purpose-built market rental homes in 2025 and says that annual level has not been seen in more than 40 years, alongside reported reductions in permitting times for laneway homes, single-family detached houses, and multi-family and mid-rise development permits.
For supportive housing enforcement, the platform calls for overdose prevention sites to be kept away from schools, parks, and major commercial streets, citing ABC’s claim of past disruptions linked to some OPS facilities.
ABC proposes an enforcement system it calls “Three Strikes and You’re Out” for what it describes as problematic non-profit supportive housing operators. It says providers with repeated serious problems, such as drug dealing, violence, fires, and other dangerous conditions, would be required to make improvements including stronger security, better management, protections for tenants, and closer work with health and emergency services.
According to the platform, providers that receive formal warnings and repeatedly fail to resolve serious, ongoing safety problems would face escalating enforcement, and after three strikes the City would seek to legally revoke the operator’s business licence.
The platform also includes proposals directed at the justice system, including a request that the province fund prosecutors and courts, and support tougher federal bail and sentencing measures for repeat offending, plus a call for the province to pressure the federal government for a broader port-security strategy targeting organized crime, illegal goods, and stolen vehicle exports.
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