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.
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.
Source
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.
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.
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.
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.
Source
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mayor Kennedy Stewart is on track to meet these targets thanks to a renewed focus on approving more housing across Vancouver.
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.
