Vancouver prioritizes new market-rate housing on public land, while Burnaby focuses on non-market

February 7, 2025

The City of Vancouver is piloting a project that will see the City build and also manage new market-rate buildings on City-owned land, beginning with 54- and 40-storey towers at Pacific and Hornby streets. The focus on market rents, extending now to public land, means that households must earn between $90,000 and $190,000 per year for the rent to be economically accessible.

The City plans to also build exclusively market-rate rentals on four other City-owned sites at Granville and Pacific, Main and Terminal, Marpole, and 2400 Kingsway.

Meanwhile the City of Burnaby is heading in another direction. It has created – and is operationalizing funds for – a new Housing Authority that will deliver primarily non-market rental units, mixed with some market rental units.