Housing affordability, mental health and climate change took centre stage as Vancouver City Council candidates compared their platforms in front of UBC students last night.
At a debate hosted by the UBC Debate Society and UBC CAPACity, candidates sought to stand out from the crowd with their solutions to housing affordability. Despite general consensus over principles, they disagreed over approaches to climate action, the opioid crisis and public transit.
Candidates from six parties attended — Arezo Zarrabian of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), Honieh Barzegari of Vision Vancouver, Morgane Oger of Progress Vancouver, Grace Quan of TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, Dr. Devyani Singh of the Green Party and Tanya Webking of the Coalition for Progressive Electors (COPE).
Candidates from Forward Together with Kennedy Stewart and ABC Vancouver did not attend the debate.
The moderator-posed questions segmented the debate into five topics, which were housing, transportation, the overdose crisis, climate and reconciliation.
Housing crisis divides candidates
All candidates stressed the severity of the housing crisis and the urgent need for solutions.
Zarrabian, Barzegari and Oger promised to streamline the process of issuing development permits.
Oger further promised to rezone the entire city for multifamily housing, saying that the current practice of rezoning individual lots contributes to price inflation.
“The person whose land gets out-zoned to multifamily housing has just won the jackpot and can walk away with a three-times to ten-times explosion in price,” she said.
Vision Vancouver has promised to “ask for a rezoning throughout the city” within the first 90 days on council, said Barzegari.
In contrast, Quan promised that TEAM would slow down rezoning if elected, but spend $500 million on affordable housing, split between social, co-operative and market properties.
Singh, along with Quan and Webking focused on redefining what affordable housing means. Currently, the City of Vancouver uses Housing Income Limits (HIL), which reflect “the minimum income required to afford appropriate accommodation in the private market,” to determine eligibility for housing programs.
Singh and Quan proposed redefining “affordable housing” to mean having rent cost less than 30 per cent of the median renter’s income. By contrast, Webking said COPE wants to tie the definition of affordable housing to minimum wage, and increase minimum wage to $25 per hour.
Quan and Zarrabian blamed “densification”—the concentration of high-rise buildings around arterial roads—for reducing livability.
Different views on systemic issues
Candidates were divided over the best response to the opioid crisis in Downtown Eastside (DTES). Quan and Zarrabian said they supported tying existing safe supply programs with long-term treatment programs.
Webking, a frontline worker in DTES, affirmed the efficacy of safe supply programs. Singh and Oger concurred, the latter cautioning against the use of police for enforcement of mental health treatment.
On climate, all candidates emphasized building resilience in the wake of heat domes and in anticipation of food insecurity and rising shorelines.
Singh, a climate scientist and recent Ph.D. graduate from UBC, centred her points on decolonization and the intersectionality between climate and social justice.
“Climate change has come out of colonialism and capitalism,” said Singh.
Oger, Quan and Barzegari promised to plant trees in low-shade parts of the city. All candidates promised to implement cooling standards for new and existing buildings.
On reconciliation, all candidates committed to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action and to listen to indigenous communities.
Webking, a Dene/German member of the Tlicho nation, stressed that “reconciliation and colonial policing are opposing forces.” She said COPE has promised to uplift Indigenous voices in government by putting forward three Indigenous candidates.
Voting will take place on October 15, with advanced voting on October 13. Voters can find more information here.
A previous version of this story misstated Webking's party affiliation as TEAM rather than COPE when discussing affordable housing. This article was updated on October 13, 2022 at 1:25 p.m. to reflect this change.
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