Taxpayer-funded housing projects fail to deliver on NDP's affordability promises.
Any time the B.C. NDP government makes a housing announcement, there is one word repeated again and again and again for anyone who will listen: affordable.
BC Housing provided $31.8 million in low-interest financing to the developer in 2021, through its “HousingHub Provincial Rental Supply Program,” to lock 54 units at “at-or below-market level rents restricted to middle-income households within the provincial middle-income limits” for the next decade.
That’s the high end of B.C.’s current market rate, Gold reported, and relies partly on BC Housing calculations that the average annual gross income of the person without kids in the studio or one-bedroom units is $131,950, while the families in larger units are up to $191,910.But even more amazing are the comments Gold extracted from BC Housing’s vice-president Michael Pistrin, in defence of the project.
“Our government is investing in more affordable housing for people who work and live in Vancouver, and throughout B.C.,” was the accompanying quote from then Attorney General David Eby, who is now the premier. The Kitsilano project funding was part of $2 billion in additional financing the government pumped into HousingHub in its spring 2021 budget with the promise it would build — and hold on to your hats here — more affordable middle-income housing.
“But that’s on a case-by-case basis … for the most part it was just intended to put market supply out there.”So, what exactly did B.C. taxpayers achieve by loaning billions of dollars to developers at below-market rates then, if not an impact on the price of the resulting units?
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