Vancouver seeks to unleash builders to tame runaway home prices

Tucked between snow-capped mountains and the sparkling Pacific, with a mild climate and thriving cultural scene, Vancouver is a perennial contender for North America's best place to live. It's also the least affordable.

For 13 years straight, urban consultancy Demographia has named it the continent's most expensive place for housing. The cost of owning a home in Vancouver, including interest payments on a mortgage, now sits at a staggering 90% of the city's median income, according to the Royal Bank of Canada. Yet officials and experts couldn't agree on the cause, let alone a solution.

Until now.

Suddenly, out of a municipal election, a consensus is forming: housing isn't expensive because of foreign money sloshing into the city. The problem is simply that there aren't enough homes. The answer: rezone and build more.

That could make the Oct. 15 vote a turning point not only in Vancouver but in cities across Canada and the U.S. where the cost of housing has suddenly become an acute and seemingly intractable issue. In both countries, the majority of people own their homes and protecting their value has historically taken precedence over any other concern at the ballot box.

Home ownership in Vancouver stands at more than 60% and the fact that so many appear willing to risk their biggest asset is a sign of how desperate things have gotten. With similar battles playing out in so many cities, Vancouver could become a bellwether and precedent for how, and whether, a city can fix itself.

"If they actually achieve this rezoning, it will be a change that's heard all over the U.S.," said Sonja Trauss, founder of a San Francisco housing advocacy group.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart is running for re-election on a promise to pursue zoning changes and build 220,000 homes over...