08/27/2026
Vancouver just approved a 25-storey student housing tower on Main Street.
And they did it by overruling their own planners.
Council approved it in principle, but with a massive condition: those units have to be owned or leased by a public post-secondary institution.
Why the controversy?
Because staff basically said: “This site is too small for this building.”
No rear lane.
No on-site parking.
No loading or student pick-up drop-off.
And it’s near Main and Kingsway, one of the city’s higher crash corridors.
Supporters say the existing building is failing and the location near the future Broadway subway makes student housing make sense.
This is the real question: are we solving housing…or trading livability for speed?