Solomon Yi-Kieran

Housing & Homelessness

Affordability

COPE promises

Buy apartments and turn them into affordable public housing and co-ops

"Buy apartments and turn them into permanently affordable public housing and co-ops. Create a right-of-first refusal policy that gives tenants, and then the city, first priority in purchasing existing apartments that go up for sale to turn into affordable housing. Create a Multi‑Unit Residential Acquisition Fund to help land trusts, co‑ops, and non‑profits acquire rental housing and prevent displacement."

— COPE Platform, page 5, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Support the development of community-led land trusts

"Support the development of community-led land trusts aimed at protecting land from speculative development and creating permanently affordable housing for public benefit."

— COPE Platform, page 5, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Support, protect, and expand co-op housing

"Support, protect, and expand co-op housing and fight to renew leases for existing co-ops at no charge to preserve affordable homes, prioritize building new co-ops on city-owned land, and push other levels of government to make generational investments in co-op housing. "

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Give priority to non-market users for purchasing land previously owned by non-profit community groups

"Protect land held by non-profit community groups from sell-offs to speculative interests. Land owned by faith-based groups and other charitable or non-profit organizations should be mandated to give right of first refusal to another non-market user before selling to the private sector."

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Stop selling off public lands

"Stop public land sell-offs that rip us off. For too long, public lands have been given away to the rich and powerful and sold off to make up for budget shortfalls."

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Implement a city-wide public land trust

"Preserve, leverage, and expand Vancouver’s public lands for public benefit, and implement a city‑wide public land trust for democratic community control. We need to build permanently affordable public housing for every income level and in every neighbourhood, in partnership with the provincial government, the federal government, host nations, and non-profits."

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Tax non-resident investors to fund affordable housing

"Tax non-resident investors to fund affordable housing for people who live here."

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Retrofit existing affordable housing for seismic safety and climate preparedness

"Retrofit existing affordable housing for seismic safety and climate preparedness, and work to transfer ownership to tenants, non-profits, or the city"

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Discourage the tearing down of affordable apartments

"Plan the city to grow where there are single family homes, parking lots, and storefronts, instead of tearing down affordable apartments."

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Negotiate, build, and secure 20,000+ units of affordable housing for Vancouver

"Negotiate, build, and secure 20,000+ units of affordable housing for Vancouver, including: In- digenous housing, public housing, co-ops, community land trusts, non-profit housing, support- ive housing, below-market inclusionary zoning, shelter-rate housing, and modular housing."

— COPE Platform, page 7, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Act as a lead negotiator to bring together a portfolio of stalled public, co-op and non-profit housing sites

"Act as a lead negotiator to bring together a portfolio of stalled public, co-op and non-profit housing sites, and use every tool available to negotiate low-interest loans, secure senior gov- ernment funding, and get affordable housing build."

— COPE Platform, page 7, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Finance the construction of permanently affordable public housing through taxes on wealth, mansions, and empty lots

"Finance the construction of permanently affordable public housing through taxes on wealth, mansions, and empty lots, bonds, and advocacy to senior governments."

— COPE Platform, page 7, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Fight for affordable housing in every neighbourhood

"Fight for affordable housing, including shelter-rate housing for people on fixed incomes, housing affordable for minimum-wage earners, and middle-income housing for people on a living wage.

Make all neighbourhoods welcoming and supportive for people on all incomes, with afford- able housing in every neighbourhood and with accessible and affordable retail and services."

— COPE Platform, page 7, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Housing Accessibility

COPE promise

Triple the empty homes tax to put more rental homes on the market

"Triple the empty homes tax to put more rental homes on the market and use the revenues to produce affordable housing. When COPE first proposed the Empty Homes Tax in 2014, it was intended to grow over time, but Ken Sim and ABC froze the EHT and created new loopholes for developers to keep units vacant."

— COPE Platform, page 5, Retrieved 2026-10-03

"Use it or lose it. Vancouver doesn’t need vacant lots. We need housing, public services, and local shops and restaurants. Incentivize development without displacement by placing a penalty on land-banking for profit."

— COPE Platform, page 7, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Property Taxes

COPE promises

Support taxation on land value

"Support taxation on land value, capture the land-owner windfalls caused by proximity to pub- lic amenities, speculation, and zoning to use for public benefit instead of private profit."

— COPE Platform, page 7, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Finance the construction of permanently affordable public housing through taxes on wealth, mansions, and empty lots

"Finance the construction of permanently affordable public housing through taxes on wealth, mansions, and empty lots, bonds, and advocacy to senior governments."

— COPE Platform, page 7, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Public & Assistive Housing

COPE promise

Mandate that developers for redevelopments on low-cost Single Room Accommodation (SRA) units pay a fee to cover replacement units

"Mandate redevelopment fees for deeply affordable housing cover the cost of replacement units, and end the waivers and give- aways of SRA conversion fees to developers.

In one vote alone, Ken Sim and ABC waived over $20 million in SRA fees to a developer. SRA fees pay for affordable housing replacement."

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Rent & Rental Stock

COPE promises

Fight to ensure rent controls apply between tenants

"Close the loopholes that landlords use to jack up rents. We’ll fight to keep rents low by fighting to close the vacancy loophole to ensure that rent controls apply between tenants."

— COPE Platform, page 5, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Pass a city-wide anti-displacement policy to mitigate the harms of demovictions

"Stop demovictions with a city-wide anti-displacement policy that protects tenants rights, converts rentals into coops, and prioritizes development without displacement.

  1. [...]Take what works from the tenant relocation and protection policy (TRPP) and amplify it city-wide with new protections that ensure that violently displacing tenants is not a viable business model.
  2. Make developers bear the full costs of relocation and coordinate redevelopments so renters get access to the same sized house, meeting the same accessibility needs, in their own neighbourhood.
  3. Appoint public workers to support tenants during developments, funded by a fee on developers, instead of relying on “tenant relocation coordinators” hired by developers that sometimes ignore tenants or deny them compensation and support. • Leverage city-owned land for swing-site housing for tenants which can later serve as co-op or public housing"

— COPE Platform, page 6, Retrieved 2026-10-03

Biography

submitted by the candidate or their team
Solomon Yi-Kieran 易行天 is a student organizer and transit activist fighting for better transit, affordable housing, and a more transparent municipal government. They won $40 million in federal funding for youth jobs, defeated tuition hikes, and advocated for better transit.

Solomon Yi-Kieran 易行天 is a student organizer and transit activist fighting for better transit, affordable housing, and a more transparent municipal government.

As the VP External at the UBC Student Union, they won $40 million in federal funding for youth climate jobs, defeated a provincial attempt to hike tuition, and led the campaign advocating for the UBC SkyTrain, including passing a city council motion endorsing the project.

Solomon is fighting for a covered bench at every bus stop to protect transit riders from the rain, to extend the bus lanes that Ken Sim promised but never delivered to stop buses from getting stuck in traffic, and to get a low income transit pass so every Vancouverite can afford to get to work.

COPE is pushing for 20,000 new units of affordable publicly owned rental housing, including 4,000 units built on city land, so that we can bring rents down and supply affordable housing to the people who need it. Solomon and COPE will also triple the empty homes tax to bring prices down, and bring back the Renters Office so that tenants in Vancouver have support.

See Solomon Yi-Kieran's election promises

Reason for running

submitted by the candidate or their team
I am running because no one in my generation can afford a future in this city anymore. I have a record of proven advocacy wins, and I believe that COPE will fix the broken housing system, bring us better transit, and finally make Vancouver affordable.

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