A fair question, but it assumes that they aren't already doing this. There is already a great deal of new supply creation and there has been for decades. Vancou

A fair question, but it assumes that they aren't already doing this. There is already a great deal of new supply creation and there has been for decades. Vancouver has nimby tendencies just like any other city, but it's not SF. There is lots of new condo construction. The problem with a supply only solution is that supply takes time to create, and there are limits to the rate of supply creation (ie. how many trades are available). Even if city government really made a push to increase the pace of supply, they only be able to move the needle slightly, and it'll take years for that supply to appear. If the speculative demand is overwhelming it might not have a noticeable affect. I would say this has been the case for the last several years where Vancouver housing starts climbed to the highest it has ever been and yet prices climbed ever higher. If you want to solve the problem quickly, you need to not only increase supply, but also have a look at curbing speculative demand.