B.C. Housing probe could affect entire non-profit housing sector


Advocate says reform is needed, but agency must keep flexibility to respond fast to housing crises

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A prominent advocate said the overhaul of how B.C. Housing doles out funding — recommended in a scathing report into conflict of interest between the housing agency’s former CEO and his wife — will have implications across the non-profit housing sector.

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Jill Atkey, CEO of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association, said while the recommended changes are important to ensure public funds are spent wisely, she doesn’t want to see the pendulum swing so far in the other direction that “the flexibility and the ability to respond quickly (to the housing crisis) is lost.”

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An investigation by Ernst & Young, released Monday, found Atira Women’s Resource Society received preferential treatment for housing contracts because its CEO, Janice Abbott, is married to B.C. Housing’s CEO Shayne Ramsay.

The report found Ramsay repeatedly sent text message to staff, which were later deleted, directing that Atira receive government funding. That violated conflict of interest rules that barred him from discussing those projects because of his relationship with Abbott.

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Ramsay resigned in August after 22 years as B.C. Housing’s top boss.

Shayne Ramsay in 2020.
Shayne Ramsay in 2020. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

Atira has grown to become B.C.’s largest non-profit housing provider and oversees housing for almost 3,000 people in 28 buildings in the Lower Mainland.

The government has frozen any additional funds to Atira for buying new buildings or doing renovations, however operational funding will continue to ensure people living in Atira-run buildings are not left without services. The government has ordered another review into Atira’s finances.

Given the myriad concerns detailed in the report, Atkey said freezing funds to Atira is an “appropriate response.”

However, she’s concerned freezing Atira’s funds could tie the hands of an agency that fills a unique role in the sector by providing housing to vulnerable women and children.

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“We really do need all hands on deck,” Atkey said. “So it is concerning.”

Two former B.C. Housing board members — who were fired by Premier David Eby last July after he asked for Ramsay to be placed on administrative leave after the conflict of interest concerns first came to his attention — told Postmedia News some decisions to award housing contracts to Atira were done quickly without a formal bid process because of the urgency to house people living in encampments and other dangerous situations.

Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, said the problems facing Atira and the lack of oversight by B.C. Housing echoes scandals involving non-profit housing agencies including Portland Hotel Society, which in 2014 ousted several senior managers after audits revealed they spent thousands on luxurious travel, limos, spas, family vacations and gifts, and the Downtown Eastside Residents Association, which disbanded in 2010 after allegations the society mishandling public money.

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These problems, Yan said, span across B.C. Liberal and NDP governments which points to a “systemic failure of trying to maintain non-market housing to house some of the most challenged individuals in our society.”

Successive provincial governments, Yan said, have taken a reactive approach to the housing crisis, scrambling to “throw money into the problem” in the hopes of “tamping it down for another term” in office.

During question period Wednesday, B.C. United finance critic Peter Milobar questioned why Eby, who was minister responsible for housing until he stepped down in July to run for the NDP leadership, did not ask for the investigation to include Atira’s for-profit property-management company, Atira Property Management Inc.

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The company manages several single room occupancies buildings in Vancouver and managed the Winters Hotel, where two people died following a fire on April 11, 2022.

“Can the premier tell the victims of the Winters Hotel fire why they aren’t entitled to a comprehensive investigation into the finances of Atira and all of its subsidiaries?” Milobar asked.

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon didn’t directly answer why the investigation did not include the property management company but regarding the Winters Hotel fire, he noted there is a class action lawsuit underway.

Milobar pointed out that a critical report by accounting firm BDO Canada, completed in 2019, found financial mismanagement at both Atira and its fully owned subsidiary, Atira Property Management.

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Janice Abbott in 2020.
Janice Abbott in 2020. Photo by Francis Georgian /PNG

The for-profit arm was created by Abbott in 2002 to generate profits from managing strata buildings around Metro Vancouver, with those profits donated to the charity. Because it is a private corporation, Atira Property Management Inc.’s finances are not available, and it’s unclear what profits they make and pass back to Atira.

Milobar also attacked the NDP for having “friends and insiders” on Atira’s board, including Forestry Minister Bruce Ralston’s wife, Miriam Sobrino.

Ralston said in a statement that he has been recusing himself from all meetings related to Atira.

“This means that I was not part of any cabinet decision or discussion on this matter and I did not receive or review any material in advance of the report being made public,” he said.

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B.C. Housing is carrying out physical inspections of Atira-operated buildings, which started Tuesday. The government has also asked for an appointee to be placed on Atira’s board but Atira has not yet committed to doing that.

— with files from David Carrigg

[email protected]


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