Competition has turned hot for the chance to represent one of the city's oldest civic political parties in an October by-election for a council seat as would-be candidates sense that the ruling Vision Vancouver is vulnerable.

The Non-Partisan Association has four people competing to be its council candidate, all with plans to capitalize on voters' dissatisfaction over the city's affordable-housing crisis and the inability of Vision, in power since 2008, to do anything about it.

"It's a testament to the absolute failure of [Mayor] Gregor [Robertson] and Vision, the quality of people we have running," said Hector Bremner, vice-president of public affairs at Pace Group and a one-time BC Liberal candidate who is among those hoping for the nomination.

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Besides Mr. Bremner, others who have said they are planning to run include park-board commissioner Sarah Kirby-Yung, former school trustee Penny Noble, and a candidate who ran with another party in the last election, Glen Chernen. The centre-right NPA dominated city council for many decades, but has been out of power since 2008.

Mr. Bremner said he signed up well more than 500 new NPA members before the Aug. 7 cut-off for those wanting to vote in the nomination process.

"People are struggling to live in the communities where they were raised. They want to see this housing issue addressed," Mr. Bremner said. He is promising that, if he is chosen, he will take a "bold position" on new housing measures.

"We want to be big, we want to take some risks," said the 36-year-old, who lives in a rental apartment downtown with his wife and two young children.

Ms. Kirby-Yung said she wants to run in the Oct. 14 by-election because she feels Vision has failed to manage the city properly.

"I'm proud of Vancouver, but not proud of how the city is being run."

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Ms. Noble, the executive director of Bike to Work B.C., said she is mostly concerned about how the city is handling heritage issues.

Mr. Chernen, who did not respond to an e-mail from The Globe and Mail, says on his website that he wants to help provide strong opposition at city hall to counter Vision Vancouver's bad management.

His website states that the NPA has not been effective so far. "The NPA has duplicated and supported some of the mayor's most unwanted plans."

But, he said, the party can be made into a stronger opposition. Mr. Chernen and his brother, Nicholas, ran with a party they formed in the previous civic election called the Cedar Party.

The by-election is being held to replace Vision councillor Geoff Meggs, who resigned in July to become chief of staff to NDP Premier John Horgan.

So far, Vision has not said what its process for choosing candidates will be or who might be in the running. High-profile former Vision school trustee Patti Bacchus has said she will not run in the by-election.

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The Green Party appears poised to nominate Pete Fry, who got 45,000 votes in the 2014 election – not quite enough to get him elected, but a strong showing.

Anti-poverty activist Jean Swanson has announced she is running as an independent, although some members of the left-wing Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) are hoping their party will endorse her.

And the OneCity party, created in 2014 by people who had supported either COPE or Vision but became dissatisfied, is running long-time homelessness activist Judy Graves as its candidate.

The number of candidates with centre-left or left-of-centre parties puts the NPA in a strong position for the by-election, although the Green Party is also competitive.

A late-July poll by Justason Market Intelligence indicated that 30 per cent of potential voters were leaning towards Green, 27 per cent to the NPA, 18 per cent to OneCity, 17 per cent to Vision, and 8 per cent to "other."

"My feeling right now is it's a race between Greens and the NPA," said pollster Barb Justason. She also noted that the vote on the left is "very fractured."

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However, by-elections typically have extremely low turnouts, and races can be won by parties who do not top survey results but have an effective machine for getting voters out.

"You can't underestimate that Vision machine," Ms. Justason said.

Two potential NPA candidates who have decided not to run include Kirk LaPointe, a media manager who was the NPA's mayoral candidate in the last election, and Wayne Moriarty, the former editor-in-chief of The Province newspaper.

Mr. Moriarty said he is interested in the 2018 election, but the deadline was too tight for him to mobilize a campaign this year.

He says Vision Vancouver achieved some improvements for the city in its decade in power, but that it is "time for them to go."