City Council Moves to Speed Up Housing Construction

Vancouver city council is expected to vote Wednesday on a motion that would roll back certain regulations with the aim of making it faster and cheaper to build homes—a direct acknowledgment that the city's affordability crisis demands action.

Mayor Ken Sim's proposal would align Vancouver's standalone building code with baseline provincial standards. Right now, Vancouver is the only municipality in B.C. with its own code, which means builders and manufacturers can't use standardized designs or prefabricated components the way they can everywhere else. The motion asks staff to find ways to close that gap, and any departure from provincial code would need to justify its cost impact and public benefit.

The motion also targets the Energize Vancouver program, which pushes owners to upgrade to electric water heaters and renewable energy. Sim's camp argues the restrictions are driving up costs at a time when residents are desperate for affordability. "Limiting options for water heating will increase costs to residents and hurt affordability," the motion states.

But the move is drawing sharp pushback. Physicians and health experts point out the city is facing one of the hottest summers in history. Builders counter that financing, permitting times, labour costs, and land values are bigger affordability drivers than building codes. A group of Vancouver-area construction and architecture firms argued in 2024 that gas-versus-electric debates distract from the real levers—and last November, council split 5-5 on a similar proposal, killing the gas-heating reversal.

Simplifying codes could chip away at housing costs. Whether it'll actually move the needle on affordability remains the real question.