To: Mayor Sim and Members of Vancouver City Council
From: Michael Quast, CEO, Passive House Canada
Date: July 24, 2026
Re: Retaining Passive House Certification for 1444 Alberni Street & 740 Nicola Street
On behalf of Passive House Canada, Canada’s national leader in Passive House education, advocacy and professional training, I am writing regarding the rezoning application for 1444 Alberni Street and 740 Nicola Street.
Passive House Canada strongly supports the creation of new housing, including social and affordable housing. Vancouver urgently needs more homes, and we welcome the inclusion of social housing in this project.
It is precisely because we support social housing that we are concerned by the proposed removal of the Passive House certification requirement.
This proposal does not arise in isolation. It follows Council’s approval of Motion 8, Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Housing Affordability Through Alignment with the Provincial Building Code, which signalled a broader policy direction of separating building performance from development approvals.
Housing affordability and building performance are not competing priorities. Affordability should be measured over the life of a building, not simply on the day a development permit is issued. Reducing construction costs while increasing decades of operating costs is not a long-term affordability strategy.
A high-performing building costs less to operate, provides healthier indoor environments, better protects residents from extreme heat, wildfire smoke and outdoor noise, and remains more resilient over its lifetime. These benefits are especially important for residents of social and affordable housing, who often have the fewest options when utility costs rise or extreme weather strikes.
This week, visitors to the City of Vancouver’s website were greeted with a prominent warning about extreme heat and poor air quality, encouraging residents to seek cooling centres and cleaner air spaces.
At the same time, Council is being asked to remove the internationally recognized certification that independently verifies a building can provide exactly those conditions.
Passive House certification is not an architectural style or an environmental label. It is independent verification that a building performs as promised. It confirms not only that the building was designed to achieve exceptional performance, but that it was constructed to deliver healthier, safer and more comfortable homes.
Removing this requirement may simplify the approval process, but it does not eliminate the long-term costs associated with poorer-performing buildings. Those costs are simply transferred to future residents, housing providers and the broader community.
Social housing should not be built to a lower standard. If anything, it should set the benchmark for healthy, resilient and affordable-to-operate housing.
Council originally approved this project on the basis that Passive House certification formed part of the public benefit offered through the rezoning. Before removing that commitment, Council should understand what is being lost and why.
Passive House Canada respectfully requests that Council not remove the Passive House certification requirement without first referring the proposed removal back to staff for further analysis. At a minimum, Council should be provided with a clear assessment of the long-term implications for operating costs, occupant health, climate resilience and lifecycle affordability, together with an explanation of why independently verified Passive House certification is no longer considered appropriate for a project that originally secured rezoning approval on that basis.
For many years, Vancouver has been recognized internationally as a leader in high-performance buildings. Passive House has been an important part of that leadership. We encourage Council to build upon that legacy rather than step away from it.
We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further with Council or City staff.
Respectfully,
Michael Quast
Chief Executive Officer
Passive House Canada | Maison Passive Canada
