The next municipal election is scheduled for October 17, 2026. As a respected leader and community advocate in the Downtown Eastside, FIRST UNITED is mobilizing communities to engage in the election.
See a list of upcoming candidate forums, debates, and town halls here.
What we’re mobilizing for
We encourage our supporters, allies, and communities to attend candidate forums, debates and events and query candidates about the following issues:
Zoning and Housing
When it comes to housing, the municipalities can decide what type of housing can or cannot be built and where. For example, in 2025 Council voted to freeze the construction of net-new supportive housing within Vancouver, and changed the zoning within the Downtown Eastside Oppenheimer District (DEOD) to decrease the proportion of social housing units required in new builds in the area. These types of choices can either improve or worsen the affordable housing crisis Vancouver and much of BC has been experiencing for years.
We encourage you to ask the following question to candidates:
What zoning changes will you propose to increase non-market housing, and what resources will you put towards the development of non-market housing?
What we would like to hear from candidates:
- Commitment to reverse zoning changes to the DEOD and restore higher proportions of social and shelter-rate housing
- Prioritize zoning of affordable and supportive housing projects
- Maximize the amount of social and shelter-rate housing required for inclusionary zoning buildings
Harm reduction and saving lives
Substance use and addiction are health issues. As such, the provincial government has significant jurisdiction over healthcare policy and access, but as we’ve seen this year the City can use its powers of zoning and bylaw development to halt life-saving spaces like overdose prevention sites. Municipal governments, while limited in their powers to affect the availability or accessibility of healthcare, do hold influence with the provincial government and can lobby for interventions.
We encourage you to ask the following question to candidates:
With overdose prevention sites being challenged and critics of harm reduction becoming more vocal, what is your plan to maintain evidence-based models?
What we would like to hear from candidates:
- Overdose prevention sites will not be blocked.
- Commitment to providing and enabling spaces to be used for detox and voluntary treatment services
- Lobbying the provincial government for increasing voluntary treatment and detox spaces and funding so people can access help immediately instead of waiting weeks
- That enforcement will not be punitive and perpetuate cycles of poverty through the issuance of tickets that individuals can’t afford to pay
What we’re endorsing
Women Transforming Cities has asked us to publicly endorse and sign on to two issues as part of their policy requests to candidates. We have endorsed the following:
Housing Access
Will you commit to expanding access to non-market and climate-resilient housing options to reduce housing waitlist times, including:
- Increasing co-op, social, and supportive housing in every neighbourhood by partnering with the non-market housing sector to proactively change zoning rules that delay non-market homes and make rents more expensive, within the first year of your term.
- Prioritizing non-market housing on public land and demanding senior governments provide substantial, long-term funding to enable deeply affordable units.
- Improving tenant safety during extreme heat by advancing building retrofit initiatives that provide low-carbon cooling, especially for low-income tenants.
Public Washrooms
Will you commit to addressing the gap in essential hygiene infrastructure by increasing the availability of accessible, maintained, 24/7 washrooms, including:
- Installing prefabricated public toilets, like Portland Loos, in high-need areas, or setting up porta potties as a stopgap where needed.
- Increasing funding for existing City and Park Board washroom maintenance and upgrades, especially in under-resourced neighbourhoods.
- Partnering with DTES service providers and other levels of government to sustain and expand peer and non-profit-supported hygiene facilities such as mobile washrooms, staffed washrooms, showers, and laundry facilities, with safer options for women and gender-diverse people.