Promise Tracker: More Affordable Housing & Fighting Speculation
In 2018 Mayor Kennedy Stewart ran on a platform to help make Vancouver work for everyone. Track our progress below as he works to make housing more affordable, address homelessness, take action on climate change and save lives from overdoses.
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✔️ Triple the empty homes tax
Mayor Stewart promised to triple the EHT to 3% and in November of 2020 he did just that. Now speculators have been forced to rent out over 4,000 homes to local residents while raising millions to fund affordable housing projects.
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Then in April 2022, Mayor Stewart passed a motion to raise the empty home tax to 5% and double the number of compliance audits to eliminate housing speculation in our city once and for all. -
✔️ Provide homeowners more opportunities to develop their own properties
On January 26, 2022 Council unanimously passed MakingHOME, Mayor Kennedy Stewart's plan to build 10,000 new homes for the middle-class while also generating hundreds of millions of dollars to build rental housing, fight homelessness, expand childcare, and tackle the climate emergency.
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✔️ Protect our 6000 cooperative housing units by renewing city-held leases
In June 2021, Mayor Kennedy Stewart reached a landmark deal to renew co-op housing sites on City land across Vancouver and build upwards of 2,000 new ones over the coming years so that a new generation can benefit from co-operative housing.
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✔️ Allow duplexes across the city
One of the first things Mayor Kennedy Stewart did was lead Council in a defence of duplexes across the City by defeating a motion by Coun. Hardwick. Thanks to you, we succeeded.
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✔️ Bringing in a real time, online dashboard to track key affordability metrics to ensure we stay on the right track
City of Vancouver Launched VanDashboard in February 2020.
VanDashboard showcases performance data for select City of Vancouver services including key housing affordability metrics. It includes indicators of how well we are delivering key services, along with progress on our overall goals and strategies. Each category has a number of indicators you can check out to see how Mayor Kennedy Stewart and the Forward Together team are progressing.
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✔️ Streamline and clarify the CAC process to deliver hard assets like affordable homes, childcare centres and affordable spaces
Mayor Kennedy Stewart has completed a review of the CAC program and is now moving forward with a streamlined process that is more transparent and predictable.
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🎯 Speed up the permitting process by increasing staff and reducing red tape
In April of 2021, Mayor Kennedy Stewart spearheaded a new $1 million permitting task force to empower the City Manager and Director of Planning to streamline permitting in Vancouver. Since then, numerous improvments have saved thousands of hours -with more actions to come.
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🎯 Work with senior levels of government to create long-term housing funding and bring back tax rules to encourage the construction of rental buildings
Since being elected, Mayor Kennedy Stewart has secured a record level of investment from senior government on housing. When combined with local investments, Kennedy Stewart has landed over $1B in housing investments that will help build more than 10,000 new below-market homes in Vancouver.
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🎯 Build 35,000 new condominiums, coach houses and townhouses over the next decade
Mayor Kennedy Stewart is on track to meet these targets thanks to a renewed focus on approving more housing across Vancouver.
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🎯 Build 25,000 new non-profit affordable rental homes over then next 10 years
Mayor Kennedy Stewart is on track to meet these targets thanks to a renewed focus on approving more housing across Vancouver. In fact, in 2020 and 2021 Kennedy Stewart approved a record number of rental and social housing.