اخبار العرب-كندا 24: السبت 10 أغسطس 2024 11:51 صباحاً
B.C.'s housing minister is defending the NDP's now-scrapped Housing Hub program after B.C. Housing won a foreclosure order against a Merritt developer who defaulted on a low-interest government loan.
The government-run housing agency gave the developer a $16.6 million low-interest loan in 2020 for a 75-unit rental building in Merritt, with the condition that 45 units be rented at below-market rates.The project was part of the NDP's Housing Hub program, launched in 2018 to provide low-interest financing to developers in exchange for a guaranteed percentage of below-market units.
In April, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered the developer, Olympic Villas Inc., and its construction company, TBS Procurement Interface Inc., to repay the more than $18 million they owed.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon is defending the NDP's Housing Hub program, which has been scrapped in favour of the B.C. Builds program. (CBC News)
"That is the only Housing Hub project that had challenges with their financing," Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon told CBC News.
"The project remains viable. If for some reason they don't make their payments, we're going to have a non-profit come in and operate it and everyone living in the building will be able to continue to live at the same rates that were there before."
Kahlon has been on the defensive this week after critics pointed to the high rents listed at one Housing Hub-funded building in Kitsilano as evidence the program has failed to produce enough affordable housing.
Just 14 of the 68 units in the L2 building at 1807 Larch St. are listed at below-market rent, while other units rent for $2,600 per month for a studio and up to $4,200 per month for a two-bedroom unit.
The L2 building at 1807 Larch St. is advertising units for up to $4,200 a month, which critics say flies in the face of the NDP government's promise that the building would be affordable. (Martin Diotte/CBC )
Peter Milobar, B.C. United's finance critic, said the projects in Merritt and Kitsilano are just the latest in a long string of embarrassments related to the Housing Hub program, which he's branded the "housing flub."
"Instead of taking action to address the concerns brought forward, they kept approving more and more projects and now what we're finding is a lot of those projects are not actually providing affordable housing," he said.
This is not the first time the Official Opposition has raised problems with the Olympic Villas.
Last year, it came to light that some of the units were being advertised on Airbnb and Expedia for $250 a night and that units in the building were renting for up to $2,380 per month, well above the province's rent cap of $1,650 a month.
A 75-unit rental building in Merritt was the centre of foreclosure proceedings after the developer failed to repay an $18 million loan to B.C. Housing. (Tom Popyk, CBC News)
Kahlon promised that the B.C. Builds program, announced by Premier David Eby in February, will improve upon the Housing Hub program.
A signature plank of Eby's housing platform, B.C. Builds will give $2 billion worth of low-interest loans to developers or non-profits with the goal of securing 20 per cent of units below market rent.
However, Kahlon said the program is different because, in many cases, the government provides the land, eliminating a significant cost to developers.
However, Milobar said B.C. Builds is just a rebranded Housing Hub program.
"The government's answer to all of this is to rename the Housing Hub, put more money into it, and think they're going to get a better result. It's simply nonsensical."
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