The City of Richmond, adjacent to Vancouver is trying that. But because of the commodification of housing, it found that 47% of the new housing stock (condos) built in the city centre are sold and empty.  

Other communities near nodes of transit in Burnaby and  Vancouver have  a sold and empty factor of 20-25%.

Not unusual considering entire condo projects are marketed in China, and MLS real estate listings get released on Chinese websites before they do locally.
 
Price and demand contagion have spread to more cities in BC other than the half dozen cities near  Vancouver. Victoria is  unaffordable, and Kelowna is moving up.