There is no shortage of criticism of the federal and provincial government’s plan to buy up empty Metro Vancouver condos and either resell them or rent them at affordable prices.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier David Eby announced the plan last week as part of a multi-billion-dollar program to boost the supply of affordable housing.
While Carney says the details won’t be released until the fall, critics say buying up unsold condos at market prices is a bailout for developers who made bad decisions in the first place.
“When one benefits when the market, when prices go up, but what happens when prices go down, and that really shouldn’t we allow market mechanisms determine those prices as opposed to having government come in to set a floor,” Andy Yan, City Program director at Simon Fraser University, asked.
Last week, Carney said the government will “leverage innovative financing tools from Build Canada Homes to convert thousands of vacant condos into affordable homes.”
There are about 2,200 vacant condo units in areas considered a priority for growth in B.C., and Carney said converting those would be the fastest and most efficient ways to increase housing supply.
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B.C.’s Housing Minister Christine Boyle said they are hoping to convert all these units.
“We’re running all of the numbers on what a program design looks like that works for the folks we’re talking about, hard-working British Columbians making good income, still feeling locked out of home ownership,” she said.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was at Vancouver International Airport on Sunday and also commented on the plan.
“The condo goes from expensive to less expensive. Who’s going to pay the difference? Well, Mark Carney wants you, the taxpayer, struggling with mortgage bills and gas prices, to pay those losses instead of the developers,” he said.
The partnership announced Thursday between the two governments includes spending more than $5 billion on B.C. infrastructure, $3.2 billion to lower development charges for multi-unit housing — reducing costs by up to 50 per cent in communities that are deemed a priority — and $284 million to reduce barriers for new construction.
Actually is it ok if I charge you 5 bucks for the blow job? OneBC is running a little short on funding these days…
Mark Carney is the best Prime Minister we’ve had since Jean Cretien. Also I’ll give a free blow job to anyone that votes for OneBC. All hail Hltler!! I mean Trump!! I mean Satan!!
Things were better when everyone was white in Canada. We could beat our wi especially and molest as many children as we wanted down at our local Church. The good ole days
Carney is the most hypocritical politician and despicable.2,000 units, with an average market value of $1,000 per square foot in Vancouver and an average of 700 square feet per unit, would amount to 700,000 x $2,000 = 1.4 billion. Carney just gave our taxpayers’ money to the developers at will. How shameless this is!
JV is actually the only intelligent person in this comment section. He can actually afford to live in Vancouver while most of us live in trailer parks in Surrey and Maple Ridge. I’m just sore because he has a life and I don’t. I can only find support from my fellow white trash/power brothers and sisters on the internet these days. Every time I go out in public I get laughed at by the public. Please someone help me and my MAGAtard depression issues. White people are the real victims in Canada… not anyone else. I’m The victim
Don’t even bother to hide the corruption anymore just steal, fraud, money laundering, kick backs, tax scams. Carney really is a banker.
On your knees JV and suck carnhole off
“JV” Basking in the glow of his computer. One of the great keyboard warriors. His mom’s basement is his home. He spends his days alone, surrounded by empty juice boxes and the smell of cat piss. JV is a sad delusional loser. Poor JV
Dictator carney didn’t want his friends to loose money with housing prices starting to drop so he just charged all of canadians to help save their profit….
So give the degenerates a place that they can trash, burn the door trim for heat and strip the copper out of. 5 years later its announced that 5 billion has been alloted for repairs. Yep, sounds like a great idea.
Carney is absolutely owning you little crybaby bltches these days it’s so funny 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The truth is most of these Magatard Conservative supporters in this comment section don’t even live in Vancouver. They’re either too old to drive or they can’t afford to live in Vancouver
And who are these critics? A bunch of Conservative MAGAtard politicians and their white power supporters? Only they would be complaining that the government is using tax dollars to supply affordable housing for people in Vancouver. A problem that’s plagued Vancouver for decades. These Conservative idiots also seem to forget that the developers that the government is bailing out provide thousands of jobs for trades workers in the city.
Lol the copycat troll is just as desperate as ever. Just another Conservative crybaby that can’t handle the truth. Too funny 🤣
When you say “Pay market value” this is misleading. If the units are sitting empty, then the asking price is too high and thus it’s not selling. What the government is proposing is to pay the developers asking price not the value as set by the current demand/market. Kinda looks like a bailout.
“JV”
Please get the help you so desperately need. We’re all worried about you.
Wait? What? I thought the Conservatives were corporate boot lickers.
This makes me completely ill! I work in this industry and I see the billions of $$’s these developers have made over the past decades… private jet wealth, private island wealth, flying employees for all expense paid trips to 5 star resorts… the public has NO idea of the corruption and greed in this business. The only reason these condos are unsold is that these billionaires gambled big and LOST! So we privatize the profits but socialize their losses???? This is so messed up.
where was my government housing assistance when i struggled for home ownership??????? Never received a break!! had to sacrifice plenty to ensure i was able to provide for my family. the developers are greedy. Take the cut on prices like all the small businesses do.
the province’s public infrastructure was funded off the backs of international students and newcomers rather than using taxpayer dollars.
Buy Brookfield stock!
Government will make you rich!
What’s stopping developers from continuing to make poor decisions when they are bailed out and effectively encouraged?
Unbelievable the government will help the developers cleaning their inventory using the taxes payer’s money.
It’s just helping the developers not the users.
This is the most incredulous idea by the liberal government I have ever heard. We the tax payers are not responsible for multi millionaires bad investments. Like any else who invest in the stock markets or any type of investment we take our chances. Is Carney going to repay anyone who losses money on a bad investment. This has to be rescinded now. Corporate bankruptcy is not the responsibility of the Canadian taxpayer.
I doubt this will help the developers with sales of any other units. Who is going to choose to purchase a new condo in a new building when they find out that their new neighbors are going to be welfare recipients. Hey let’s go further and fill those government condos with drug addicts exclusively. Then they can turn the new buildings into un-occupiable firetraps just like they have so many SROs.
Why are taxpayers being asked to help investors avoid losses? If the goal is to improve housing affordability and availability, a better approach would be to substantially increase taxes on vacant properties, non-principal residences, and short-term rental properties such as Airbnb units. Double them if necessary.
When owners face a meaningful cost for keeping housing empty or operating it primarily as a short-term investment, more units will enter the long-term rental and resale markets. That’s a market-based solution that increases housing supply and benefits residents, not speculators. Public money should be focused on creating housing opportunities, not shielding investors from the risks they willingly took.
Greedy developers selling shoeboxes for overblown prices and here comes Carney, the saviour…this country is truly screwed!
The best way to live in Canada is to rely on the government. Hardworking and dedicated saving will backfire on you, your savings will go to tax and end up paying for developer’s losses.
If you’re willing to vote for these people it’s because you’re not paying attention or you’re incompetent. Either way, don’t vote. You’re told it’s important for everyone to go out and vote, but you’re told that by people who are betting on the ignorant voting for them. The conservatives suck, but there is no good reason for any person who is informed to vote for the libs or NDP ever again.
Government bails out developers who continue to sue defaulting buyers who no longer qualify for the mortgages necessary to complete their purchases and whose deposits have been forfeited. . Where is the justice in that?
Developers should be made by law to either pay the piper for empty units OR sell them at a loss be it to prospective owners OR the government. NO tax dollars EVER should be used to bailout those who made bad judgements in the hopes of huge profits. That action ALONE is reponsible for ALL paying higher rents and mortgages.
You ll own nothing and be happy.
I’m a liberal bot! Yay for communism and corruption!
Carnage at its finest.
There is only one way this almost works – audit the buildings they want to buy up, and only pay the raw material and direct labour cost – no profit, no interest, no overhead – nothing other than what it cost for the building itself. The builder gets out with their shirt and nothing more, and hopefully that is the lesson learned. If they are broke after that and have to sell/merge/go under, so be it. The taxpayer then hasn’t subsidized the builder, and another progressive government has the foundation for creating the projects 2.0 – and we can watch them dissolve into crime ridden slums over the next 10 years…history repeats folks.
This is just another blatant waste of tax dollars . These units will be trashed and who pays again? Pay the dam debt down and give the actual tax payers a break.
This is NOT increasing supply….
“JV” continues to blabber on like an idiot. “Mike” says, “Hold my beer”.
Just charge double the proposed rent each month as a vacancy tax and the developer will lower prices and have those units occupied by the end of tomorrow
Tax payers money being used to payoff developers, basically politicians making sure the people they work for are not loosing their money.
Canadians celebrate the decay of their country; zero political or culture movement to change course. Canadians don’t want the truth, they want comfort dressed as truth.
Reality is too heavy and ignored for most Canadians so they live a life of illusions, soft dreams and soft lies calling it happiness.
Canadians want comfort Not the TRUTH! Canada is PATHETIC and Canadians Are Entirely to Blame.
So after decades of greedy developers causing this. Now the government is bailing them out?????? Let them fry I say !
Communism is a stupid thing.
Can’t believe is going ahead with this project.
Governments created the mess. Critics are idiots.
@Robert James- the sarcasm was lost on you with “JV”‘s post….
Buying condos in Vancouver, the most expensive city in the country, at 1.2 million per unit to use for affordable housing 😂😂😂 Guess I should move to BC to try and get one 😂😂
Cornhole Carney and Empty Ebby. Both have nothing. More welfare for the rich. They have made the province and this country a third world. The anger and hate is becoming palpable for both these fascists. Time for big change in Canada!
The housing shortage was never real to begin with, and this isn’t just happening in B.C. There are unoccupied apartments, condos and houses across the country and immigration has just been used to spike he prices and hold them high for real estate investment trusts (REITs) and connected developers. This is government-level market engineering and pure corruption, in my opinion.
I was hoping to get a free condo from the government because sleeping in a ditch with an old roadside garbage bag as a blanket is getting old.
Sure I could get a job but that would require me to actually work and it’s much easier just to live off the government .This is why I support the LPC and David Eby so strongly here.
I can’t even comprehend this level of stupidity! If this is not corruption in the form of disguised affordable homes aka bailouts, then I guess we should all do the same, if corruption is good for the government then it’s good for us little people! On display: Leadership leading by example!
The debt this gov. is running is absolute B.S. Buying all the empty condos is stupid. They will let all the druggies stay for free and destroy them. No different than giving the Native Indians all the money they want to piss away. Then allowing 20 % of immigrants to come in to Canada from India and Pakistan.
I hope that “JV” gets the help that he clearly needs. Mental illness is a serious issue in Canada.
Carney is supposed to be this world banker, he should know how the market works, he globetrots it all the time. Ran his campaign on how qualified his elbows are…were. I am half liberal and half common sense, the market is looking to find……Equilibrium. STOP propping up the market artificially/bailouts
So business owners make bad decisions and build these expensive condos only a small percentage of Canadians could afford anyway. My taxes shouldn’t pay for your bad business decisions. Thats terrible mismanagement of tax dollars. What a joke. Why not bail me out because I cant afford my mortgage? Its no different. The Liberals and anyone who thinks this is OK seriously needs their mental health evaluated.
other provinces don’t have this extent of letting developers run amok without control, a province such as bc no economy and budget relies on heavily with taxation, they are arrogant enough to think the world cup will generate a billion just as the expo 86 and Olympics failed and UI is still over 8%
Why would the government pay market value for these condos . They can not sell them now get them for cheap or let the developer go bankrupt . Tax payer should not be on the
Hey! I bought a nice condo. The one next to me didn’t sell. Great. The gov bought it and is going to rent it to a meth head. There goes my condo. Up in smoke. We have such idiots running the country it’s phuzcking unbelievable!!!!
JV missing the point again…
So in your mind, taxpayers should take the burden and risk of developers? But if they profit, the developers get the profits?
If we were actually building affordable housing that is one thing… This is a developer making housing that people can’t afford, so the governement steps in to rescue them from losing money? This will have an effect on the rising costs of EVERYTHING…
Lets just keep adding to the BC and Federal deficit… the budget will balance itself… right?
@JV. No, it isn’t “MAGAtards” that are against this, it is people who acknowledge that this is the worst of Capitalism and the worst of Socialism combined. This approach rewards the developers by privatizing their profots when they make a good gamble, while socializing their failure when the prices climb beyond what the market will bear. People have complained about housing prices and vacancy in Vancouver for over a decade, having the people bail out the developers that gambled on those high prices just keeps prices high. By NOT bailing out the developers they will need to reduce their prices to where buyers once again feel there is a enough value to make it worth their while.
Just a guess, but I am thinking that taxpayers in Thunder Bay, Regina and Winnipeg are questioning this use of their hard earned tax dollars…….
And who are these critics? A bunch of Conservative MAGAtard politicians and their white power supporters? Only they would be complaining that the government is using tax dollars to supply affordable housing for people in Vancouver. A problem that’s plagued Vancouver for decades. These Conservative idiots also seem to forget that the developers that the government is bailing out provide thousands of jobs for trades workers in the city
How many of these properties have ties to Brookfield,Eby,and or various members and supporters the B.C.NDP ,LPC ?
Keep in mind that the actual cost of this is not the sticker price of the condos. Those are assets that the Govt will own. The cost is merely the difference between what market rent would be and what BC Housing charges the people who are allowed to rent the condos.
This can go one of two ways. If the Govt just pays the current asking prices, it’s a bailout. If, on the other hand, the Govt says “We’ll buy multiple unsellable condos if you give us a deal” and gets them for 15 or 25% off, then it’s a great investment. Either way, BC Housing gets more properties in which to house people, which is a good thing.
What could go wrong?
Everything…
just shake my head, liberal/ndp bailout
The fastest way to increase supply, is to reduce demand. Cut immigration levels down to ten percent of their current level. Trudeau destroyed the economy and standard of living.
Does Carnie own properties that he’s hoping to buy? Do any other politicians have properties that would get bought with this money?