Mayor Ken Sim is asking staff to find ways to align Vancouver’s building codes with baseline provincial standards
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A Vancouver city council committee is expected to vote Wednesday on a motion put forward by Mayor Ken Sim that would roll back certain regulations with the aim of making it easier and faster to build housing.
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Sim’s motion describes the City of Vancouver as having home prices and rents that are increasingly out of reach for middle- and even upper-income households. While other municipalities in B.C. follow provincial building regulations, the City of Vancouver is the only one that has its own “standalone building code,” which means builders, designers and manufacturers are limited in their ability to use standardized designs, modular construction and prefabricated components, according to the motion.
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Sim is asking staff to find ways to align Vancouver’s building codes with baseline provincial standards, and that any divergence from the provincial code will require “justification, including quantified cost impacts and a clear explanation of the public benefit achieved.”
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Another part of Sim’s motion would direct staff to pause the Energize Vancouver program, which was established to reduce emissions in new buildings by encouraging owners and managers to use energy more efficiently, upgrade equipment and choose renewable energy options.
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“Stakeholders in business and labour and the plumbing, heating and cooling industries have clearly identified that limiting options for water heating will increase costs to residents and hurt affordability,” the motion states.
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Staff would be directed “to restore the ability of Vancouverites to choose a hot water heater replacement that best suits their needs.” This would repeal a bylaw requiring homeowners to replace existing natural gas water heaters with electric water heaters when new equipment is needed, starting January 2027.
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The motion is drawing reaction from groups who were opposed to an earlier, similar attempt in 2024 to reverse policy on water heaters.
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In July of that year, council made a surprise decision to direct staff to amend city bylaws to enable natural gas for heating and hot water in new construction, reversing a policy approved in 2020 by the previous council that aimed to reduce carbon pollution. ABC council members who supported the policy reversal said at the time that this would help to speed housing construction and improve affordability.
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But a group of builders, including presidents, principals and partners of Vancouver-area construction, design, architecture and development firms argued that financing terms and rates, permitting times and fees, development cost charges, labour, material and equipment cost and availability, land values and other factors were greater factors on housing affordability.
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In November 2024, council was split 5-5 on the proposed bylaw amendments, meaning the use of natural gas for heating and hot water in new buildings was not allowed.
