Let me ask you a simple question. It has a very obvious answer too.

What if 5 million units magically appeared overnight in Vancouver and they were all available at "affordable" rates, so no more than 3x median annual household income. So around $150,000k for a 1 bed condo, and around $270 for a 3 bedroom townhouse.

How long would it take for those units to be snapped up by buyers?

I'll tell you the answer, they would be sold as soon as people could talk to their bank.

People would straight up abandon their lives elsewhere for those units. From Halifax to Hope, there would be a migration like never seen before.

And the next day, Vancouver housing prices would still be higher than those new rates, because there would still be more demand and not enough available units driving the prices up.

This is the eternal problem with supply in desirable areas, there can never be enough of it.

Greater Tokyo has 40 million people, and even with the entire country losing something like a half a million people, Tokyo's population is stable because of constant inbound migration from other areas. The moment costs drop, or jobs become available, someone else moves in to take it.

This isn't a random side take either, Greater Tokyo has about 3x the density of Greater Vancouver. Tripling the current Vancouver population would be around 6 million new people.

Do you know how Tokyo stays somewhat affordable for housing? The per-person average square footage for housing is like 150-250 square feet. There are entire 4 person families living in 500 square foot apartments, and singles living in units so small you can touch the walls on both sides.

It's not about a lack of supply, or rather, there is no possible way to reach a supply level that would reduce housing prices to affordable levels.

Instead, and here's the genius trick, you change the demand. You introduce a tax on EVERYONE in Vancouver, not a small tax, a large tax, but you don't tax the people, you tax the land they use. Maybe $100,000 a year for a detached house in the City of Vancouver, Maybe $10,000 a year for a condo in Vancouver. That money gets refunded to all Canadians equally, even to the people who live in Vancouver. This gives people an incentive to live outside of Vancouver, and the people who do get to live there subsidize the people who don't get to live in such a desirable location. People who want a lot of land, pay for the privledge. People who are happy to share the land pay less, or even benefit from others who don't want to share.