Vancouver mayor makes final pitch for controversial Broadway Plan ahead of municipal election

Vancouver’s mayor appears to be attempting to position himself as the renter’s candidate, with just five months to go until the next municipal election.

Kennedy Stewart is giving voters the hard sell on the controversial Broadway Plan.

The proposal seeks to build thousands of new homes along the planned subway on the Broadway corridor, but critics are calling it a pie-in-the-sky idea.

The proposed plan would create enough housing for 50,000 people.

The mayor says renters in the existing buildings, which would need to be demolished, will have the right to move into the new towers at or below current rents, but he would not guarantee they would be the same size units. Stewart said the city would "see" about getting people who are living in over-crowded spaces into larger units

“It's more about what housing is appropriate, rather than exactly duplicating what they have in the past,” he said in a press conference Thursday morning.

“So you have to think, too, that we're building an area's first, where there's no rental, you know, there's very little rental housing, if any, and so that will increase the stock of housing across this corridor."

The plan would redevelop the Broadway corridor between Clark Drive and Vine Street.

That area is slated to be home to the new Broadway Subway by 2025.

The proposal would create a high-density zone, allowing for residential towers up to 40 storeys tall, with the goal of building a second downtown over the next 30 years.

However, residents of the existing low-rise buildings have raised concerns about losing their homes to so-called demovictions.

Stewart has said any displacement would be temporary and residents would be compensated or given the right to move into the new units.

Stewart says the builders of the new towers will have to agree to pay for renter’s moving costs and any difference in rent at their temporary accommodations in order to secure a contract.

He says the lower rental rates are tied to the units themselves.

Strategist Bill Tieleman, who opposes the Broadway Plan, calls the proposal a “pie-in-the-sky” idea.

“You're talking about much smaller units, less floor space, less space overall. Not to mention that we're going to have these giant towers which take up a big footprint in the city,” Tieleman told CTV News.

Tieleman says Stewart is claiming to be the renter’s mayor, but believes the project would end up displacing thousands of current residents.

“I think anybody who wants to think that they're going to have the same size apartment, the same rent or less, going to have temporary housing for up to five years, I've got a bridge to sell you,” said Tieleman.

Planning and engagement for the project started in 2019 and the draft plan will go to council next Wednesday for a vote.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Travis Prasad and Alissa Thibault