Entrepreneur Ken Sim has unseated Kennedy Stewart as mayor of Vancouver, a city where runaway home prices and the cost of living have become pressing concerns among voters.
Sim, who founded Canadian home healthcare company Nurse Next Door, ran on a promise to speed up permitting for housing construction in the city by reducing high-rise approvals to one year from as many as six. He also promised to hire 100 additional police officers to tackle crime, including anti-Asian hate crimes.
“We can make Vancouver safe again. We can make progress on housing,” Sim said in a campaign video. He will be the first Asian-Canadian mayor ever in Vancouver, a city with a large Chinese immigrant population.
Saturday’s election was a rematch of the 2018 mayoral vote, when Stewart won by fewer than 1,000 votes. This time, Sim picked up 85,732 votes to Stewart’s 49,453, according to the city.
Sim’s ABC Vancouver slate also won a majority of city council seats.
Stewart ran on a promise to change zoning laws and build 220,000 homes in the city to tackle affordability in a city where housing prices have remained stubbornly high. Colleen Hardwick, a city councilor known for voting against new housing projects, finished third.
The benchmark price for a home in greater Vancouver was C$1.17 million (about $843,000) in September, which makes it even more expensive than greater Toronto. Prices have risen 37% in three years, according to data released Friday by the Canadian Real Estate Association.
