Vancouver's Affordable Housing Dilemma: Wood or Concrete

One of the arguments for more high rise towers in Vancouver is that it would provide more affordable housing. But there’s a catch: high rises made out of concrete are much more expensive to build than low-rises made out of wood. So building any concrete high rise might make it unaffordable. That's the beginning of a recent newspaper article that goes on to examine the wood vs. concrete topic as it is playing out in Western Canada's largest city.

"It depends on the finish and complexities of construction, but usually a 40-per-cent increase (with concrete) is a safe bet," said University if B.C. landscape architecture professor Patrick Condon. "I don’t think anybody would debate that one."