Call to Action: Support the Return of Vacancy Control to BC
The provincial government must protect affordability and address extreme rent increases in British Columbia.
Published June 4, 2026 to be sent to Premier David Eby and Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Christine Boyle
Written by Chantelle Spicer and Sacia Burton for the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition and co-signed by 40+ community leaders from across sectors in BC
We, the undersigned, stand united in our vision for equitable housing stability in BC. We are calling on Members of the Legislative Assembly in BC to support the urgently-needed actions outlined in the private members' bill for vacancy control in BC. There are tangible, feasible public policy solutions to end poverty, homelessness and inequality in BC, and this is a policy window we cannot afford to close. The provincial government must protect affordability and address extreme rent increases in British Columbia by implementing vacancy control.
British Columbia is facing a housing crisis of unprecedented proportions, and the brunt of this crisis is borne by the 1.5 million British Columbians who rent their homes. Since 2018, the BC NDP Governments have relied on recommendations from the Rental Housing Taskforce, which have not included exploring rent stabilization mechanisms like vacancy control due to pressure from landlords and developers, as well as optimism that existing policies would protect affordability. Eight years on, while some positive moves have been made for renters, BC is losing affordability in tens of thousands of apartment units every year. After 6 years of relying on market-based solutions in lieu of decisive policy action, Vancouver rents in vacant apartments were, on average, $572 above rents in occupied apartments in 2024.
Without vacancy control, rental prices between tenants continue to rise steeply and far out of proportion to inflation or wage increases. Unchecked rent increases mean that people across the income spectrum in urban and rural BC are pushed into homelessness or displaced from their communities. Indigenous people and people with disabilities are particularly at risk.
The current void of caps on rental increases between tenancies has encouraged a system of for-profit evictions to fester, plaguing tenants across the province. Although the government has introduced new processes and timelines to make it harder for landlords to evict in bad faith for “landlord’s use,” the incentive to evict in bad faith will remain as long as unlimited rent increases are available on tenant turnover.
Recent trends of market stabilization demonstrate that BC’s rental market is well-positioned to introduce vacancy control. Given a lack of incentive to extract “maximum tolerable value” from their properties, landlords are positioned to more readily accept vacancy control while the market is cooling. Policy measures that enforce predictability and stability benefit both sides of housing relationships, and will work to weigh the power dynamic more equitably between tenants and landlords. The former BC NDP Minister of Housing, Ravi Kahlon had recognised the role vacancy control plays in protecting renters when implemented in 2024 for Vancouver SRO tenants as “protecting vulnerable people who are being exploited by some bad faith actors who are using pressure tactics on tenants to leave their rental units so they can hike the rent.”
Evidence shows that rent control is not a major factor in determining new housing supply. Across various jurisdictions, second-generation rent controls have had “very little short- or long-term impact on construction rates”. The removal of rent controls has little effect on supply and did not lead to supply booms in other jurisdictions. Most landlord profits are generated through increases in property value appreciation, not from monthly rent. Although both rent and profitability are very high in British Columbia right now, development would remain profitable even with vacancy control.
It is clearly time for the BC government to commit to evidence-based housing policy and untether their policy decisions from developers’ interests.
We stand firmly behind BCGEU’s calls for:
Rent control to be implemented as a progressive, evidence-based social policy rather than a purely economic or market-oriented control;
Enacting interventions against institutional investors, including ownership disclosure, property data transparency, and limitations on speculative investment in rental housing;
Creating or strengthening multi-jurisdictional legislation and enforcement mechanisms
Progressive taxing of landlord and developer wealth to create funding opportunities for affordable social housing
Nesting regulatory approaches alongside complementary policies. They must be designed in ways that create strong incentives for compliance while running alongside complementary policies that are well-proven to be effective at targeting housing inequality at the same time. Those include, but are not limited to:
mechanisms that hold landlords accountable for basic maintenance and major capital upgrades,
meaningful penalties for eviction-seeking behaviour and other forms of retaliation, and
significant supports for the most marginalized tenants who are much more likely to be targeted for eviction.
The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, along with our members and partners, have long championed the use of vacancy control as one tool in the toolbox for addressing the housing crisis in the province. We call on the BC Government and Opposition to support the Private Members’ Bill introduced by the BC Greens to bring back vacancy control and stabilize rent prices for tenants across the province.
signatories as of June 4:
Chantelle Spicer & Sacia Burton, Co-Interim Directors, BC Poverty Reduction Coalition
Paul Finch, President, BC General Employees’ Union
Amanda Lockitch, Outreach & Research Manager, Disability Without Poverty
Caprice Pybus, Membership and Information Services Coordinator, Homelessness Services Association of BC
Jordan Bultitude, Food Justice & Poverty Reduction Analyst, Gordon Neighbourhood House
Izzy Adachi, Organizer, Greater Victoria Acting Together
Heather McCain, Founder-Executive Director, Live Educate Transform Society
Carole Gordon, President, BC Teacher’s Federation
Ariane Fleischmann, Director, Communications & Advocacy, Family Services of Greater Vancouver
Kabir Madan, Organizer and Researcher, Carnegie Housing Project
Robert Patterson, Staff Lawyer, Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre
Gary Horswell, V.P. Board of Directors, 411 Seniors Society
Viveca Ellis, Executive Director, Centre for Family Equity
Isabel Siu-Zmuidzinas, Climate Campaigner, Wilderness Committee
Ismail Askin, Community Engagement and Campaign Coordinator, Worker Solidarity Network
Maria Gaudin, Executive Director, DTES Neighbourhood House
Beverly Ho, Executive Director, Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice
Sharel Warrington, Treasurer, Prince George Council of Seniors
Marika Kocaba, Board Chair, 411 Seniors Centre Society
Stephen von Sychowski, President, Vancouver District Labour Council
Leslie Gaudette, Committee Chair, Council of Seniors Citizens’ Organizations of BC
Rod McIvor, Vancouver Board Member, Canadian National Pensioners Association
Sadie Gilker, Operations and Events Coordinator, Women Transforming Cities
George F. Evens, Chair, The Council Seniors Advocacy
Tony Love, member, Housing Justice Project, University of Victoria
Mohammed Rafi Arefin, Centre for Climate Justice, University of British Columbia
Colleen Hermanson-Crosson, President, North Coast Immigrant & Multicultural Services Society
Tracy Quewezance, Regional VP Thompson Okanagan Shuswap Region - Board member, Municipal Pension Retirees Association
Jimmy Ho, President, Richmond Poverty Reduction Coalition
Pierre Sooucy, President of the Board, Société Carrefour 50+, Colombie-britannique
Grace Kramer, Member, BC Government Retired Employee Association
Dawna Mackay, Board Member, BCIT Retirees’ Association
Caitlin Shane, Lawyer, Pivot Legal Society
Douglas King, Executive Director, Together Against Poverty Society
Langley Seniors in Action
Jean Swanson, Board Member, Carnegie Community Centre Association
David-Wonbae Lee, President, Korean Evergreen Seniors Society of Canada
Lori Dennill, Vice Chairperson, Prince George Council of Seniors
Marsha Arnold, Vice President, BC Principals and Vice Principals Association
Kevin Craib, Board member, Langara College Association of Retirees
