Vancouver’s local elections are just a bit over a month away, and Mark Marissen, the mayoral candidate for Progress Vancouver, revealed this week how he is planning on tackling one of the city’s biggest issues: affordable housing.
“We face a massive shortage of housing. We need to build more. Not housing for profits, but housing for people. Housing for students, children, and seniors. Housing for workers. Housing for families,” Progress Vancouver said.
The plan announced earlier this week, titled “Housing For All,” consists of 12 points, and are as follows:
- Replace outdated land use policies with modern, common-sense zoning;
- Create the Vancouver Civic Housing Corporation (VCHC) to build mixed income housing;
- Allow seniors housing to be built in all neighbourhoods, enabling seniors to remain near their children and grandchildren;
- Increase housing targets to 15,000 per year with 50% being rentals;
- Support co-ops, collectives, and multigenerational homes as alternatives to market housing;
- Secure new commitments from Ottawa & Victoria on social housing;
- Enact a progressive Luxury Homes Surtax on the top 1% of properties;
- Maintain the empty homes tax; support all federal and provincial antispeculation policy;
- Protect renters;
- Streamline the Permitting & Approvals Process;
- Reform Community Amenity Contributions [CAC];
- Support Indigenous-led housing developments as a respectful, collaborative partner
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