---
title: "What Vancouver's new council has promised on housing"
description: "The four parties that hold seats on Vancouver City Council have each made specific housing commitments. The Realist newsletter compiled them party by party."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/vancouver-council-housing-platforms-november-2026"
last_updated: "2026-11-04T23:59:09.409Z"
---

Howard Chai's real estate newsletter, The Realist, published a party-by-party breakdown of Vancouver council's housing commitments on November 2, the day the new mayor and councillors were sworn in. The article quotes the housing sections of each party's 2026 campaign platform.

The four parties that hold council seats are the Green Party of Vancouver (5 seats, including [Mayor Pete Fry](/candidates/pete-fry)), COPE (4 seats), OneCity (1 seat) and ABC Vancouver (1 seat).

## What the Green Party committed to

The Green Party platform, as quoted in The Realist, commits to building affordable housing on city land through co-ops and land trusts, and creating a city role dedicated to delivering non-market housing. It also commits to Vancouver Public Housing Bonds, inclusionary zoning to require affordable homes in large developments, and a moratorium on units smaller than 250 square feet. Green councillors include [Annette Reilly](/candidates/annette-reilly), [Bridget Burns](/candidates/bridget-burns), [Camil Dumont](/candidates/camil-dumont) and [Stephanie Smith](/candidates/stephanie-smith).

## What COPE committed to

COPE's platform, as cited by The Realist, commits to reversing the cut to the Empty Homes Tax and tripling it to 9 percent. It also commits to permanently affordable housing financed through taxes on mansions and empty lots, taxing land value increases from rezoning, and penalties on vacant lots held for profit. COPE's four councillors are [Sean Orr](/candidates/sean-orr), [Chloe Leslie](/candidates/chloe-leslie), [Devyani Singh](/candidates/devyani-singh) and [Solomon Yi-Kieran](/candidates/solomon-yi-kieran).

## What OneCity committed to

OneCity's platform, as cited by The Realist, commits to building 4,000 affordable homes on city-owned land using federal funding. It also commits to legalizing four storeys in every neighbourhood, allowing narrow lot subdivision down to 25 feet (the current standard is 33 feet), cutting frontage setbacks to five feet, and expanding tenant relocation protections citywide. OneCity holds one seat, held by [Lucy Maloney](/candidates/lucy-maloney).

## What ABC Vancouver committed to

ABC Vancouver's platform included delivering the River District Community Centre, faster permitting, and a 0 percent property tax increase in 2027. The Realist noted that ABC published no dedicated housing section and that its platform documents were shorter and less detailed than the other three parties. ABC holds one seat, held by councillor [Mike Klassen](/candidates/mike-klassen).

## Tracking these commitments

The platform commitments above are what each party said during the campaign. The voche.me promise tracker at [/tracker](/tracker) records what each elected councillor has done in office. Residents can follow each councillor's page to see their pledges and any dated records of action.

## Sitemap

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