The Empty Condos Saga – Part 1

 The Empty Condos Saga – Part 1: The Mirage of Luxury

Vancouver likes to sell itself as a “world-class city.” From Expo 86 to the Olympics, we’ve been told that shiny towers, luxury condos, and glass skylines are symbols of progress and prosperity. Developers promised density. Politicians promised housing supply. Marketers promised community.

But what did we actually get?

We got towers of investment units — homes in name only. Bought up by global capital, flipped like trading cards, or simply left dark and empty. For every glossy rendering of a “livable” city, there was a working family priced out, a young renter evicted, or an elder forced into unsafe housing.

The mirage was powerful. Politicians reassured us: Don’t worry — supply will trickle down. Just build more condos and the market will sort itself out. But the truth became harder to ignore. By the mid-2010s, Vancouver had tens of thousands of vacant units — even as homelessness climbed, tent cities grew, and everyday people struggled just to make rent.

It wasn’t a housing plan. It was a real estate investment scheme, dressed up as city-building.

This is the contradiction at the heart of Vancouver’s housing crisis: a city overflowing with wealth, yet unable — or unwilling — to house its own people.

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✨ Next up in Part 2: Clark’s Spin vs. Public Outrage — how the BC government told people that “hard work” earned them second homes, while ignoring the storm brewing in the shadows.