By Amandeep Singh
political commentator
Special to The Post

Kennedy Stewart early experiences have him informed him and provided him with the empathy to understand how hard it is to be a newcomer to Vancouver. After his family went bankrupt and lost everything, Stewart moved to Vancouver in 1989 with only the $100 in his pocket that his grandmother had given him. Stewart worked hard doing whatever was available to make ends meet. He delivered beer, worked at a printing press and used the money he made to pay his way through school. He finished his formal education with a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and went on to serve as a member of parliament with the NDP under Jack Layton.

For Stewart, the challenges of his early life and his formative years in Vancouver shaped his politics. As an MP, he listened to his constituents who urged him to fight the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion. Stewart was among the first federal politicians to take action against the pipeline and worked for seven years to stop it and protect our coast and our environment from the prospect of a catastrophic oil spill.

He also fought to save hundreds of coop housing units in Burnaby, helping to secure the federal funding needed and keeping hundreds of families in secure, affordable housing.

His goal is to take the experience that he has gained as a federal politician and help make Vancouver a city that works for everyone.

Stewart’s early days in Vancouver were challenging, but they were also an example of why we need more affordable housing. Today, very few people can afford to come to Vancouver, let alone people with only $100 to their name. He was able to work odd jobs, save his money, and still afford his rent. That’s not the case anymore. More and more young people and families are moving away from Vancouver because they can’t afford a home in Vancouver anymore. He wants that to stop.

Stewart’s plan for Vancouver includes building 25,000 new affordable rental homes run by nonprofits that would be targeted to households making $80,000 a year or less. He also wants to see 25,000 market rentals and 35,000 houses for purchase built over the next 10 years. To do this, he’s promising to remove the backlog of permitting at city hall and make it faster for small and medium-sized developers to get their projects approved.

He also sees a role for homeowners who want to redevelop their own properties into duplexes or triplexes, making it easier for more families to live on one lot and making homes more affordable for first-time buyers.

Stewart’s plan will help improve the vacancy rate which will put downward pressure on rents and help more families stay in the communities that they love. It will also aid businesses of all sizes to attract and retain employees and help stabilize our local economy. Stewart told me that on a recent visit to a coffee shop on Commercial Drive, he noticed that the shop was busy but had only one person working behind the counter. That person turned out to be the owner who told Stewart that two employees had quit earlier in the morning because they couldn’t pay their rent and were planning to leave the city. The owner offered them both raises of $5 an hour, but it wasn’t enough to keep them.

Affordable housing of the kind that Stewart is proposing is clearly essential for businesses if they are to survive. If people can’t afford to live in the city, how will businesses find staff to hire?

This election has been an interesting one, and no matter what, we’ll have a new mayor in charge. Kennedy Stewart is the only person in the race with the broad experience necessary. He will vigorously pursue his counterparts in Ottawa and in Victoria to fight for the funding that Vancouver needs. He’s already identified the Broadway SkyTrain expansion and affordable housing as two areas the city needs federal and provincial funding for.

Vancouver could be vastly different in ten years with Stewart as mayor. More affordable, more vibrant, and more connected than today.

Amandeep Singh is a Vancouver based political commentator.