Premier David Eby says Atira Women’s Resource Society will undergo review and receive no new contracts during that time
B.C. Premier David Eby says a prominent non-profit housing provider for vulnerable women will undergo an intensive review and will get no new contracts in the meantime after a highly critical report released Monday found there were serious violations of conflict-of-interest rules between the CEO of the provider and her husband, who has resigned as CEO of BC Housing.
Atira has been providing housing and services to primarily vulnerable women since 1983 and, under Ms. Abbott’s leadership, saw its funding grow from $18-million in the 2016-2017 fiscal year to $52.3-million in 2020-2021.years, as the province acquired hotels and other buildings to house people and asked non-profits to take on managing them. However, none had a portfolio expansion as large as Atira.
The report noted Mr. Ramsay’s messages to those at BC Housing regarding Atira “calls into question whether Atira received preferential treatment from BC Housing and was afforded greater access to public funds than similar providers and casts doubt upon the ability of BC Housing and its then board to appropriately manage” conflict of interest situations.
Three particular decisions were highlighted as problematic in the investigation, all involving Atira’s purchases of buildings that were done using unorthodox and unapproved methods for securing mortgages. As a result, in 2020, BC Housing provided Atira with its standard funding even though the organization had a $2.5-million surplus for that year – something that wasn’t discovered until two years later.
Her organization has had at least two major financial bailouts in the past decade. In 2014, Atira got almost $1-million extra from BC Housing to cover repair bills. In 2018, after an external review by the public accounting firm BDO, which examined Atira’s financial state and found many concerns, BC Housing provided another almost $700,000 to help pay for shortfalls and repairs.
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