Every week, we'll send you an update on what happened at City Hall, School Board, and Park Board in the last seven days. Hear directly from OneCity Councillor Lucy Maloney, OneCity School Board Trustee Jennifer Reddy, and OneCity Park Board Candidates on the goings on in City government.
City Council Update:
Housing affordability is the NUMBER ONE ISSUE I’m hearing about on the doors. And that’s not surprising; more than half of Vancouver’s residents rent. Families are dealing with the prospect of rising prices and tariff-related job insecurity, so the prospect of rental relief is welcome.
This week there’s been some good news for renters out of Victoria. The province announced a maximum 2.2% allowable rent increase for 2027. This increase takes effect on January 1, 2027 and is lower than the 2.3% increase in 2026. It’s the seventh consecutive year where the province has capped the maximum allowable increase at or below inflation.
Also encouraging: Vancouver’s market rents have been declining for 30 consecutive months, and they’re currently sitting roughly 20% lower than their 2023 peak. Why? A large wave of new rental housing projects are hitting the market and slower population growth are both acting together to push down prices.
More rental housing lowers market rents, and that gives you real negotiating power to lower your rent or push back on increases. That’s why I’m proud to have consistently supported measures that add new dedicated rental supply into Vancouver’s housing pipeline.
My very first motion as a Vancouver City Councillor attempted to bring back the City’s Renter Office, which was established in 2019 to "target, track, resource, and support Vancouver renters and renter issues" and was funded through Empty Homes Tax revenues. (Despite staff recommendations to keep the office, the ABC majority council cut it in 2023.)
When faced with difficulties or eviction, Vancouver’s renters navigate a fragmented system of supports across City, provincial, and non-profit organizations, creating barriers to access, awareness, and timely assistance.
The City of Vancouver has a number of tools to support tenants and land use planning is one of the most powerful. A OneCity council will use all of them to support renters.
If I’m re-elected, I’ll work with my OneCity council colleagues to support renters and take action to prevent renters from tipping into homelessness. Keep an eye out for the details in the coming weeks.
If you’d like to see more OneCity councillors in City Hall please donate to the OneCity Victory Fund and sign up to volunteer.
You can reach me at [email protected] or [email protected]. Have a great weekend.
- Lucy Maloney
OneCity Vancouver City Councillor
Park Board Update:
As I cycle around the City, whenever I bump into City workers (especially Park Board employees), I approach them and let them know that we at OneCity Vancouver are running to replace ABC. I also tell them that all of our candidates, including William, are endorsed by the Vancouver District Labour Council. Occasionally I meet workers who live in Vancouver, but many times they say they don’t.
This clearly underlines the fact that a forward-looking City Council, including all of our fine Council candidates, need to bring back the living wage. The living wage was ended by the ABC majority earlier this term. If our City workers had a living wage, the chances of them being able to live and work in Vancouver would be much greater. Even if City workers choose to live in other cities, the presence of their better wages would add to the multiplier effect for the City’s economy. This would create jobs in the City in other sectors, the service sector in particular.
While door-knocking, I’ve also met a few employees who have been let go by the City, due to the ‘Zero Means Zero’ operating budget that led to staff layoffs. One former worker in Champlain Heights was particularly incensed, as she had been encouraged to take early retirement, which she did. She learned that soon after she left, the City rehired her specific position. As we approach Labour Day, it’s important to support all our OneCity candidates, as they will have the worker’s backs, including all the working folks in Vancouver.
On August 26, Renfrew Community Centre hosted a Town Hall hosted by MLA Adrian Dix on priorities for their community centre. William Azaroff, Tyler Petersen, Iona Bonamis, and I were there to represent OneCity. William spoke about the need for City Council to work collaboratively with the Park Board to fund the needed renewals. Jerry Fast, Chair of Community Centre Association’s (CCA) All President Group (APG), passionately called for a return to the Park Board’s 2022 Community Centre Strategy (which over two years had participation of all the CCAs across the City, and input from 2,000 individual citizens). All 19 CCAs signed on to the strategy.
In this strategy, based on quantitative indicators, Renfrew ranked number 2 out of the ten top community centres in need of renewal. At the meeting, we heard from Albert Lee, long time Renfrew CCA Board member and leader of Renfrew’s seniors’ program (with 2,600 seniors enrolled), about the lack of space at the community centre. He also noted that he often looks up and worries about what would happen if an earthquake were to happen, as Renfrew is in very poor seismic condition.
On that late summer evening, 152 people from the neighbourhood came to voice their concerns about the condition of their community centre. Many speakers spoke powerfully in favour of a strong, independently funded Park Board that can implement the renewal process by sticking to the Park Board’s 2022 Community Centre Strategy. Renewal is very important, as our community centres and our parks are the glue that keeps our society together during trying times. This was amply proven during the 2020-2022 pandemic.
John Irwin
OneCity Vancouver Candidate for Park Board
