B.C. Greens promise to restore vacancy control and end blanket pet bans in rentals

The B.C. Greens say they would restore rent vacancy control, end blanket no-pet clauses in rental contracts, and restart the Community Housing Fund and Indigenous Housing Fund. In a policy brief, the party said good rental homes are key to addressing the housing crisis as more people are priced out of home ownership. Leader Emily Lowan said she is among the 33 per cent of British Columbians who rent and knows firsthand how demoralizing and nerve-racking it can be to look for affordable housing. She said the government had walked away from protecting renters, and the Greens were proposing a plan to improve affordability and protect renters from people seeking to profit from the housing crisis.

In B.C., landlords and property managers may increase rent for current tenants once a year. When a tenant leaves, the rent can then be raised by any amount, typically to the market rate. The Greens’ brief says vacancy control would tie allowable increases to a rental unit rather than to a tenant, reducing landlords’ incentive to evict tenants without cause. The party said the Residential Tenancy Branch would continue to set annual increases.

Lowan said B.C. NDP Premier Dave Barrett introduced vacancy control in 1973, tying allowable rent increases to units rather than individual tenants to address a spiralling cost-of-living crisis and low vacancy rates. She described the policy as effective and popular, but said the next Conservative government removed it. The Greens introduced a bill in 2025 to restore vacancy control in the province, but it did not pass. When Daily Hive Urbanized asked then-Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon about the measure in 2023, he said the government’s approach was to build more housing supply.

The Greens said about one-quarter of the cats and dogs surrendered to the BC SPCA are there because of limited pet-friendly housing. The party said it would amend the Residential Tenancy Act to prohibit blanket no-pet clauses in rental contracts and instead develop appropriate guidelines for managing pets in rentals. The B.C. NDP included an end to pet bans in its 2024 platform, but the policy has not yet been implemented.

The Greens also pledged to restart the Community Housing Fund and Indigenous Housing Fund, with a plan to build and protect 26,000 housing units each year. They further committed to protect 2,000 “deeply affordable rental homes” annually. The provincial election is scheduled for Oct. 24.

After publication, the B.C. NDP provided Daily Hive Urbanized with a statement from Nina Krieger, the party’s candidate in Victoria-Swan Lake and Minister of Public Safety. Krieger said the party agreed action was critical and was protecting renters and creating more housing to bring down rents. The B.C. NDP said it had protected more than 2,000 affordable rentals through the Rental Protection Fund and capped rent increases at inflation for the past seven years. Krieger added that the party had introduced a proposed tax on unsold condos and an increase to the provincial government’s existing Speculation and Vacancy Tax. The party said the measures would encourage developers to lower asking prices and owners of vacant properties to find long-term tenants.

Lorne Doerkson, leader of the Conservative Party, criticized the plan. He said B.C. NDP taxes and red tape were why homes cost too much, and that every new housing tax ends up in the price families pay. He said his party would lower the cost of building so more homes could be built.