What North Vancouver Can Learn from Housing Experts: Affordability First, Not Market Growth at Any Cost
- treybellcouncil
- Aug 22, 2025
- 3 min read
The housing crisis has become one of the most pressing issues in British Columbia, and here in the District of North Vancouver, it’s often framed as a problem of not enough housing supply. The solution we hear over and over is simple: build more market housing.
But an open letter signed by 27 housing experts and urban planners, published recently, makes it clear that this approach is deeply flawed. More market housing alone will not solve the affordability crisis, and in many cases, it can make things worse.
The Wrong Kind of Supply
As Erick Villagomez of UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning explained, much of the new housing being built falls into the category of the “wrong kind of supply.” These are projects like luxury condos or high-end towers that replace older affordable rentals. Instead of helping, they inflate land values, encourage speculation, and push out the very residents they claim to serve.
In North Vancouver, this story feels familiar:
Forest loss to clear land for new developments. Such as the recent development council approved on Mount Seymour Parkway that sold 2 District owned forested lots to a market developer.
Traffic congestion piling up as density increases without adequate transit or cycling infrastructure. Such as we are likely to see more of around the Districts town centres, if adequate active transportation and rapid transit are not included.
Communities are transformed by high-end units that remain unattainable for working families.
This is not a path to affordability; it’s a path to a less livable, less sustainable community.
What Experts Recommend
The signatories to the open letter argue for a smarter, affordability-focused approach:
Fund non-market housing: Co-ops, land trusts, and non-profit housing providers must be at the center of new investment, ensuring homes are built for people and not speculation.
Protect existing affordable homes: Rather than demolishing older rental buildings for luxury towers, governments should preserve and upgrade the affordable housing stock that already exists.
Use policy tools to manage land prices: UBC professor Patrick Condon suggests a development tax tied to land values to help secure new affordable, non-market housing.
Direct public funds for public benefit: As Villagomez puts it, “we must ensure that public money truly serves the public, not private developers”.
What This Means for the District of North Vancouver
The District has a choice to make. It can continue down the path of approving market projects that consume green space, worsen congestion, and fail to provide affordable options. Or it can take leadership by aligning local policy with the advice of housing experts:
Demand affordability guarantees in new developments.
Stop sacrificing forests and ecological assets for market condos.
Invest in active transportation and transit so new housing doesn’t mean endless gridlock.
Work with co-ops and non-profits to create sustainable, community-focused housing solutions.
The Bottom Line
More supply alone is not enough. There needs to be a focus on non-market housing and affordability. True leadership means recognizing that housing is not just about numbers of units built, it’s about people, equity, and livability. If the District of North Vancouver wants to create a sustainable future, it should listen to these experts and stop pursuing market housing at any cost.
CBC NEWS ARTICLE: B.C. housing experts argue in open letter that more supply alone will not solve crisis
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