Comment on Vancouver City Council hopefuls discuss housing

For the first time this election season, all five Vancouver City Council candidates participated in a debate together. The candidates considered issues facing Vancouver at the League of Women Voters candidate forum Thursday evening. For the most part, the candidates agreed on solutions to problems such as rising housing costs and increasing congestion. Sarah Fox and Mary Elkin said the city has already embarked on one solution to combat rising rents with the policy that mandates landlords have to give residents a 45-day notice for rising rents and a 60-day notice for eviction. “I think right now we have a pretty good program in place to protect our renters,” Fox said. Maureen McGoldrick said that since the state doesn’t allow rent control, the city could at least prevent landlords from evicting residents for three years if the resident has lodged a complaint related to safety or delayed housing repairs. Laurie Lebowsky, a current city councilor, said the next step for the city is to ensure more housing is built. “Vancouver has some of the lowest vacancy rates in the country,” she said.