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B.C. residents say affordable housing is the top election issue, according to several polls. And the governing B.C. Liberals and their main challenger, B.C.’s NDP, say they have plans to increase the supply of affordable homes.

But there’s a big difference between having a plan and delivering results.

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The average price for a detached house in the City of Vancouver is $2.6 million. Across Metro Vancouver, the average single-family home costs $1.5 million. Home prices and incomes in Metro Vancouver have become so wildly detached, B.C. real estate economists and experts say, that improving affordability in a meaningful way will be difficult and require profound changes.

“What we have is a systemic failure of the housing market here in Metro Vancouver to meet local incomes,” Simon Fraser University City Program director Andy Yan said.

Photo by Mark van Manen / PNG

THE NEW DEMOCRAT APPROACH

NDP housing critic David Eby says B.C.’s next government must get directly involved in building large projects that would produce an “expansion of affordable housing not just for the very poor, but for the middle class in Metro Vancouver.”