Pete Fry on housing, safety and city hall spending
The Vancouver Greens' mayoral candidate told the Vancouver Sun on October 9 that cost of living, good governance and community safety are his top three issues, and that he wants to shift away from concrete tower construction.
Reported. A news outlet found this. voche.me names the outlet and links its report. Read the original report on vancouversun.com.
The Vancouver Sun published an interview with Pete Fry on October 9, in which the Vancouver Greens' mayoral candidate said his top three priorities are cost of living, good governance and community safety. Fry also said Vancouver's tower construction has largely stalled and that he wants to shift to wood frame buildings.
Housing: wood frame over concrete
The Vancouver Sun reported that Fry said concrete tower construction has stalled, with many approved projects not yet breaking ground. He said the city should build more wood frame buildings, which current provincial rules allow up to six stories. "We can build it cheaper, faster," Fry told the Sun. He also said families are showing more interest in mid-rise buildings than in towers, and that US tariffs on Canadian goods are an opportunity to use local softwood lumber.
The provincial government has set housing construction targets for Vancouver. Fry told the Sun these targets have not been met. He described the shift to wood frame construction as the more challenging conversation when it comes to changing housing in neighborhoods with mostly detached homes.
Safety and the Downtown Eastside
Fry told the Vancouver Sun that managing public space in and around the Downtown Eastside is something the city has not done well. He said he would set clearer rules about where certain activities are and are not acceptable, and create more sanctioned spaces. He also said that drug trafficking and consumption are criminal matters under federal jurisdiction, not directly under city control.
On overdose prevention sites, Fry said he would keep them open but set conditions around how they operate, rather than closing them as Mayor Ken Sim has proposed. "I think that Ken Sim has misstepped by trying to ban overdose prevention sites and ban supportive housing," Fry told the Sun, according to the October 9 article.
City budget
Fry also criticized the detail behind Mayor Ken Sim's zero-percent property tax increase budget. He told the Vancouver Sun the budget arrived as a 24-page document with half the pages blank. He said that when he was first elected to council in 2018, budgets came as a stack of 600 pages, making it possible to evaluate each line. He said the thin document made it impossible to know what changes the zero budget actually contained.
These are Fry's characterizations of the budget. The Vancouver Sun reported them on October 9.
Voters can see all mayoral candidate pages and compare positions at /candidates. Election day is Saturday, October 17, 2026.
Questions this story answers
What are Pete Fry's top three issues?
Pete Fry told the Vancouver Sun in an interview published October 9 that his top three issues are cost of living, good governance and community safety. He said: 'The top three are cost of living, good governance and community safety.' He described cost of living and affordability as central to his campaign for the Green Party of Vancouver mayoral race.
What is Pete Fry's housing plan?
Pete Fry told the Vancouver Sun that concrete tower construction in Vancouver is largely at a standstill, with many approved projects not yet breaking ground. He said the city should build more wood frame buildings, which current rules allow up to six stories. He argued wood frame construction is faster and cheaper than concrete, and said families are more interested in mid-rise buildings than towers. He also said the US tariff situation is an opportunity to use Canadian softwood lumber for these builds.
What did Pete Fry say about Ken Sim's zero-percent budget?
Fry criticized how little information came with Mayor Ken Sim's zero-percent property tax increase budget. He told the Vancouver Sun that the budget was 24 pages, with half of those pages blank, compared to the 600-page stack he received when first elected in 2018. He said this made it impossible for council or the public to evaluate what cuts or changes the zero budget actually contained. These are Fry's own characterizations, reported by the Vancouver Sun on October 9.
What is Pete Fry's position on overdose prevention sites?
Fry told the Vancouver Sun that he would keep overdose prevention sites open but would set conditions around how they operate, rather than closing them. He said Ken Sim had made a mistake by trying to ban overdose prevention sites and supportive housing. He also said dealing with drug trafficking and consumption is a criminal matter, which falls under federal and not city jurisdiction. This is Fry's stated position as reported by the Vancouver Sun on October 9.
What did Pete Fry say about public safety and the Downtown Eastside?
Fry told the Vancouver Sun that the city has not done enough to manage public spaces around the Downtown Eastside. He said the city can designate where certain activities are and are not acceptable, and create more sanctioned spaces. He said community safety is one of his top three priorities but that the approach he favours is different from what Mayor Ken Sim has done. These statements are from the October 9 Vancouver Sun interview.
What is Pete Fry's position on city hall staffing?
Fry told the Vancouver Sun that he believed the city's public service could be trimmed in some areas, but that cuts need to be evaluated carefully. He noted that much of the growth in city staff happened under Ken Sim's watch. He warned against penny-wise, pound-foolish decisions. These are Fry's characterizations as reported by the Vancouver Sun on October 9.
When did the Vancouver Sun interview run?
The Vancouver Sun interview with Pete Fry, conducted by Stuart McNish, was published on October 9, 2026. It is part of a 'Conversations That Matter' series. The article is accessible in part at the Vancouver Sun website. Fry is the Green Party of Vancouver candidate for mayor in the October 17, 2026 municipal election.
When is voting day in Vancouver?
Vancouver's municipal election is on Saturday, October 17, 2026. Advance voting runs from October 5 to October 15. Pete Fry is the Green Party of Vancouver candidate for mayor. You can find all advance voting locations and hours at /where-to-vote.
Sources
The pages this story draws on. Open one to check a claim yourself.
- Vancouver Sun: Pete Fry interview, Oct. 9, 2026vancouversun.com
- Pete Fry candidate pagevoche.me
Found an error? Tell the editors with the corrections form. A correction is noted on the story it changes. Read our standards.
Topics
More from voche.me
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver publishes full nine-plank platform ahead of October 17 vote
