Vancouver's Creekside Community Centre with a cyclist passing by

Vancouver updates development contributions to support housing, jobs and complete neighbourhoods

July 21 2026 –

Today, Vancouver City Council approved, with amendments, updates to the City's financing growth (4.6 MB) framework, creating a simpler, more transparent approach to funding the infrastructure and amenities needed to support complete, connected neighbourhoods. 

"As Vancouver continues to welcome new residents and businesses, it's important that growth is matched by investments in the facilities and services people rely on every day," said Mayor Ken Sim. "These updates are about making it easier to deliver more of the homes and job space our city needs while ensuring growth contributes to the community amenities that make our neighbourhoods great places to live.”

Development contributions help fund the infrastructure, amenities and services needed to support growth, including utilities and transportation improvements, parks, childcare facilities, and community centres. The updated framework modernizes how these contributions are collected, responding to recent provincial legislation  (Bill 46) and evolving market conditions by introducing more standardized funding tools and reducing reliance on project-by-project negotiations.

Introducing Amenity Cost Charges

A key update is the introduction of a new city-wide Amenity Cost Charge (ACC). Beginning September 30, 2026, the ACC will become the City’s primary tool for funding community amenities, replacing many of the negotiated contributions with a more transparent, consistent system. Enabled through provincial legislation, ACCs are standardized, per-square-foot charges applied to new development that provide dedicated funding for specific types of community amenities . 

“A clear and consistent development contribution framework benefits everyone,” said Josh White, General Manager of Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability. “By replacing many of the project-by-project negotiations with more standardized funding tools, these changes improve certainty for developers and provide the City with more predictable funding to support long-term planning.”

The new ACC is one of several changes approved by City Council to modernize the City's approach to development contributions. Additional changes include:

  • Updating Development Cost Levies (DCLs) to fund facilities, infrastructure and services not covered by the ACC and encourage new housing and job space. To support project viability, City Council also approved maintaining the temporary reduction in DCL rates (758 KB) approved in December 2025.
  • Reducing reliance on negotiated Community Amenity Contributions (CACs) over time, limiting their use to larger and more complex rezonings. 
  • Expanding incentives for rental and affordable housing and exempting 100% employment rezonings from CAC negotiations to support below-market housing delivery and job growth.
  • Integrating public art funding into the ACC framework, establishing a more reliable funding source.

In June 2026, City Council also approved phasing out most of the City’s density bonuses in favour of more inclusionary zoning, which requires affordable housing to be built directly into new developments instead of cash-in-lieu payments. This change complies with Provincial legislation (Bill 16) and will help deliver more affordable housing to meet growing demands.

The updated development contribution framework will be implemented through the 2027-2030 Capital Plan and future budget reporting.  For more information about the City’s updated development contribution framework, please visit: https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/2026-financing-growth-update.aspx.

Background

With the approval of the new framework, the City’s main development contribution tools are:

  • Amenity Cost Charges (ACCs) : dedicated funds collected at the issuance of a building permit that can only be directed towards certain growth-related community amenities such as community centres, libraries, public space, social/cultural facilities and public art.
  • Development Cost Levies (DCLs): pre-determined charges based on square footage and paid at the issuance of a building permit. DCLs will continue to be used alongside ACCs to fund other categories of growth-related amenities such as transportation infrastructure, utilities, parks and fire services.
  • Community Amenity Contributions (CACs): cash or in-kind contributions negotiated on a project-by-project basis through the rezoning process. Negotiated CACs will be reduced but will continue to be used on a case-by-case basis on larger sites, and more complex rezonings.
  • Density bonus zoning: pre-determined in-kind contributions provided in exchange for additional density within certain zones. 
  • Inclusionary zoning: requires affordable housing to be built directly into new developments. In alignment with recent provincial legislation (1.5 MB), Council has approved replacing density bonusing in most cases with inclusionary zoning.

Additional resources