At a glance: (3 minute read)

  • 30,000 new homes will be added.
  • Increased protection for tenants.
  • New space created for 42,000 jobs and potentially up to 126,000 jobs.

Vancouver’s Broadway Plan, approved by council on June 22, 2022, will transform 485 city blocks within the area from Vine Street to Clark Drive and 1st Avenue to 16th Avenue.

Neighbourhoods in this area - Kitsilano, Fairview and Mount Pleasant – currently house:

  • 78,000 residents (or 12 per cent of Vancouver’s population), of which 30,000 are renters; and
  • 25 per cent of Vancouver’s purpose-built rental housing.

The city forecasts the area will grow in the next 30 years by:

  • 50,000 residents to 128,000 residents from the current 78,000; and
  • 42,000 to 126,000 jobs from the current 84,000 jobs.

The goal of the 30-year Broadway Plan includes is to address the looming housing crisis, economic growth and the climate emergency by creating denser, walkable neighbourhoods with new market and rental housing, jobs, and amenities around the  SkyTrain line.

New homes

The Broadway Plan will add 30,000 new homes. Of these:

  • 34 per cent will be market strata;
  • 46 per cent of these as market rental;
  • 12 per cent will be social housing; and
  • Seven per cent will be below-market rentals.

The plan allows for mixed-use developments up to 40 storeys near new subway stations. Smaller, aging rental buildings can be replaced by residential towers up to 20 storeys.

Renter protections

To help tenants stay in their neighbourhoods at affordable rents, existing tenants displaced by the plan will have the right:

  • of first refusal to live in redeveloped buildings with new homes; and
  • to return at their current rent or a 20 per cent discount on city-wide average market rents, whichever is less.

Jobs

The plan creates new space for up to 42,000 jobs. Current shopping areas on West 4th Avenue, South Granville, and Main Street will be preserved and enhanced. 

Parks, libraries, arts, and culture

The plan provides $1 billion during the first 10 years, including:

  • $96 million for new or enhanced parks;
  • funding for Vancouver’s first blue green system with a network of connected park-like streets that manage water and protect the ecosystem;
  • funding for 400 new or renewed childcare spaces;
  • funding for an expansion of the Firehall Library and Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House; and
  • funding for arts, cultural, and music spaces.

Bike lanes will be strengthened along Kingsway, Fraser Street, 10th Avenue, and Seaside Green.

The Broadway Plan – how Vancouver council voted

Yes (for the plan)  No (against the plan)
Mayor Kennedy Stewart  Cllr. Melissa De Genova 
Cllr. Rebecca Bligh  Cllr. Colleen Hardwick 
Cllr. Christine Boyle  Cllr. Michael Wiebe 
Cllr. Adriane Carr  Cllr. Jean Swanson 
Cllr. Lisa Dominato   
Cllr. Pete Fry   
Cllr. Sarah Kirby-Young   

Under review

  • A bike lane down Broadway.
  • Freezing development on side streets for five years.
  • Thinner buildings to allow side lawns and tree canopies.

Resources