---
title: "Incoming Vancouver council plans to protect renters and raise the empty homes tax"
description: "The Globe and Mail reports that the new council, dominated by COPE and Green Party members, plans to focus its first months on tenant protections and renter policies."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/incoming-council-renter-plans-october-30"
last_updated: "2026-10-30T13:57:47.267Z"
---

The Globe and Mail reported on October 30 that Vancouver's incoming City Council is expected to put renter concerns at the centre of its first term. The new council, which takes office on November 2, has four COPE members, five Green Party members including mayor-elect [Pete Fry](/candidates/pete-fry), one OneCity councillor, and one ABC councillor.

COPE councillor Solomon Yi-Kieran, 21, told the Globe and Mail: "We want to be protecting people from eviction and from renoviction." Before the vote, Yi-Kieran committed to tripling the empty homes tax from its current 3% to 9%, creating a landlord registry, and restoring the Renters Office with stronger enforcement power. Those commitments are in his [tracker on this site](/candidates/solomon-yi-kieran).

Green Party councillor Stephanie Smith told the Globe and Mail that the Broadway Plan has contributed to housing insecurity. "The city has approached development and redevelopment in a way that creates profound housing insecurity for thousands and thousands of Vancouver tenants," she said. Smith's [pre-election platform](/candidates/stephanie-smith) includes a proposal to use a rapid acquisition fund to buy older rental buildings before they are redeveloped.

## What COPE and the Greens have promised

COPE's four councillors ran on a set of renter-focused policies. Beyond tripling the empty homes tax, the party proposed closing loopholes that allow new condos to sit vacant, a landlord registry that tracks rents and records complaints, and a formal tenant protection bylaw to block displacement. These were campaign commitments, and the council has not yet voted on any of them.

The Green Party's housing platform includes a Vancouver Public Housing Bond to raise money for affordable housing built on City-owned land, open to institutional investors. The Greens also proposed the rapid acquisition fund for older rental buildings, and changes to the pace at which redevelopment can displace existing tenants.

## What a developer said

The Globe and Mail quoted David Woo, a vice president at Starlight Investments, which has rental housing projects in British Columbia including units in Vancouver. He said project returns are already thin and that additional costs risk making redevelopment impossible. He also said there is room for agreement, adding that he hoped the council recognized housing affordability involves both supply and what it costs to build.

## What this means for renters in Vancouver

The new council takes office on November 2, 2026. Renters who want to follow whether the promised protections move forward can track the councillors' commitments on this site. If the council votes on housing policy, the tracker at [/candidates/solomon-yi-kieran](/candidates/solomon-yi-kieran) and [/candidates/stephanie-smith](/candidates/stephanie-smith) will show which promises led to action and which did not.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.