Mayor Gregor Robertson on Sunday unveiled what he called an “ambitious” new affordable housing and homelessness plan.
If re-elected, Robertson said he would spend the next three years leveraging the city’s assets to build more affordable housing, implement a new affordable housing and homelessness plan, crack down on negligent landlords and “incentivize” new rental units, among other things.
“I first ran for mayor because I shared the concern that so many feel over the fact that in a prosperous city like Vancouver, far too many people cannot find affordable housing or have no home at all,” Robertson said.
“Since being elected, the top priority of the Vision Vancouver team has been to tackle homelessness and making housing more affordable. I’m very proud of our progress but there is much more work to do.”
Robertson claimed that, in the three years since he took office, street homelessness in Vancouver has declined 82%.
Still, housing prices have continued to rise, contributing to concerns among the business leaders that the city could have trouble attracting top talent from elsewhere in Canada. (See “Home truths hurt talent search” – issue 1127; May 31-June 6.)
Check out this week’s edition of Business in Vancouver to see how Robertson has lived up to past campaign pledges to improve the business community.
Joel McKay
@jmckaybiv