---
title: "BC Greens leader Emily Lowan says NDP rent claims overstate progress"
description: "BC Greens leader Emily Lowan says BC remains the most expensive province for rent and challenges the NDP housing minister's claim of a 4.5% rent decrease as misleading to tenants."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/provincial-2026/news/emily-lowan-bc-greens-rent-costs-october-2026"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:06:51.488Z"
---

BC Greens leader [Emily Lowan](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/emily-lowan) says British Columbia remains the most expensive province in Canada for apartment and condo rents, contesting BC NDP housing minister [Christine Boyle](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/christine-boyle)'s claim that government action has driven down prices. Daily Hive Vancouver reported the exchange on October 8, 2026.

## What Lowan said

Lowan said the rent reductions the NDP has highlighted started from prices that were already inflated, and that a decline from high prices does not make rent affordable for renters who cannot pay what the market asks. "Renters in British Columbia have faced a deeply hostile environment," Lowan said in a statement, as reported by Daily Hive Vancouver. She said the NDP had pointed to asking-price reductions while those asking prices "were wildly inflated to begin with."

A Rentals.ca report cited in the Daily Hive article places North Vancouver, Vancouver, and Burnaby as the three most expensive rental locations in Canada, with Coquitlam also in the top ten.

The BC Greens say 1 in 3 Canadian renters spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent, a figure the party cited to frame the broader problem. That figure is the party's own claim and has not been independently verified.

## What Boyle said

Boyle, who is also the BC NDP housing minister and a candidate in this election, has said government action is working. After an August 2026 rent report, she credited increases in housing supply, restrictions on short-term rentals, and limits on foreign investment in the housing market for a 4.5% decrease in overall average rents in BC, according to Daily Hive Vancouver. Boyle made those comments in response to separate reports from both Rentals.ca and liv.rent.

The Daily Hive article notes that BC was already the most expensive province for rent before the NDP described prices as declining, meaning the "reclaiming" framing in the BC Greens statement describes a position the province did not leave.

## What the BC Greens propose

The BC Greens are pledging to build 26,000 units of affordable non-market housing per year, as reported by Daily Hive Vancouver. That figure is the party's own commitment. The party has not published a cost estimate or a delivery timeline alongside this pledge.

## What voters can do

Renters deciding between the NDP and BC Greens platforms can read both parties' housing commitments and compare them with third-party rent data at the Rentals.ca website. Advance voting runs from October 16 to 21, 2026. Voting day is October 24, 2026. See candidates and parties in your district at [/bc/provincial-2026](/bc/provincial-2026).

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/bc/provincial-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.