British Columbia’s housing crisis will grab the attention of a dedicated place on the government’s cabinet table. premier David Ebee The announcement came as opposition parties expressed concern about his own management of the brief.
EbeeThe president, who is set to announce his cabinet on Dec. 7, said Tuesday he would appoint the first independent housing minister to focus more on the new Democratic administration’s plans to provide more affordable housing in the state. .
“It’s important to have ministers around the cabinet table who have only one job and one focus: providing housing,” he told housing advocates in a speech in Vancouver on Tuesday.
Eby’s pledge comes a day after the government introduced two laws aimed at working with local governments to build housing, easing restrictions on apartment and condominium complexes and increasing rental properties. was broken.
The homes were also under scrutiny during Tuesday’s parliamentary session demanded by Liberal Party leader Kevin Falcon Ebee Falcon said it will launch independent audits at BC Housing and the Attila Women’s Resources Association after separate reports revealed mismanagement of social housing providers.
BC Housing is a state-owned company that develops, manages and operates subsidized housing in the state, and Attira is a non-profit housing provider.
Falcon said in a leaked 2018 report by accounting firm BDO Canada, which was commissioned to investigate Atira’s financials, that it had “inconsistent accounting practices, lack of budget commitment and ineffective board oversight.” said to have become clear.
A review of BC Housing by accounting firm Ernst & Young, released last June, found that “the roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of both government shareholders and BC Housing are unclear.”
We concluded that there is a risk that the monitoring policy may contain gaps.
Ebee At the time Ernst and Young’s report was released, he was the Minister for Housing. A few days later, he announced the dismissal of his seven members of BC Housing’s government-appointed board of directors, Falcon said.
“The improper management of BC housing under this premier It’s amazing,” Falcon said. “Can anyone believe this? premier To provide the housing people need? “
EbeeIn his speech at a luncheon in Vancouver, he didn’t mention reports on Attila or BC Housing, but said he wanted to rebuild the city-state relationship on housing.
He said BC is in the middle of a housing crisis and the state needs to increase the supply of housing to meet the growing demand.
“We will deliver the most ambitious housing project in North America.” Ebee Said. “We’re going to make it happen together.”
Dirk Meissner
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