652 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

......wtf happened to journalism?...

Social media.

[Victoria Watcher]

B.C. Housing has filed an ­additional 14 lawsuits against owners of Victoria condos. It claims the owners took improper advantage of an affordable-housing program and says there are likely more suits coming.

The lawsuits involve purchasers of units at Vivid at the Yates at 845 Johnson St., a 20-storey tower that was built as part of a pilot project for B.C.’s affordable home-ownership program.

The goal was to give middle-income people who might not otherwise be able to afford real estate an opportunity to buy homes at below-market prices, the lawsuits say. They say defendants “intentionally undermined” the program for personal benefit and their conduct has had negative repercussions for all British Columbians.

“Nothing can destroy a scheme more easily and more rapidly than abuse of that system,” the lawsuits say.

A Ministry of Housing spokesperson said B.C. Housing filed 14 lawsuits against owners in the 135-unit building this week. That’s on top of the ones that had been filed before this week, many of which were filed in 2022. Twenty-two civil suits were underway as of Thursday, the ministry said.



https://www.timescol...program-8420645




“Nothing can destroy a scheme more easily and more rapidly than abuse of that system,” the lawsuits say.




Errrr, maybe you designed the “scheme” poorly. Since now you say 1/6 of the buyers are unqualified.




Nineteen units have been returned to B.C. Housing without litigation, the ministry said. Of those, nine have been re-sold to “qualifying middle-income households” and 10 are for sale, the ministry said.





Oh, 19 plus 22? So 1/3 of the sales were bogus?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 March 2024 - 06:50 AM.

[Nparker]

Leave it to government to **** up a financing scheme that should have been very straightforward.

[Victoria Watcher]

A beauty consultant, a chef and a musician who claimed to be stuck in China.

B.C. Housing filed 14 new lawsuits this week against a wide range of people accused of abusing a program designed to get affordable homes into the hands of people who need them.

After days of questioning following CBC stories about alleged violations of an Affordable Home Ownership Program, B.C's Housing Minister released figures suggesting as many as a third of the 135 units in Victoria's Vivid condominium project went to buyers who never lived in the building.


https://www.cbc.ca/n...china-1.7138560

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 March 2024 - 12:22 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

In a statement released late Thursday, Ravi Kahlon said B.C. Housing has taken back title on 19 units and is currently suing to get back 22 more — with more lawsuits to come.

[Nparker]

Absolute proof why government needs to stay out of the free market.

[Mike K.]

Let’s see how the newest iteration works out.

[Victoria Watcher]

Days after it was brought to light that homeowners of units in Victoria’s Vivid at the Yates building purchased the homes against rules set in the covenant, the total number of lawsuits filed by BC Housing against allegedly ineligible homeowners has risen to 22.

 

When the project was first announced, it was given an interest-free loan of $53 million with the covenant that the units would only be sold to people with a household income of $150,000 or less and the units would be priced eight per cent below market value.

 

However, on March 5, CBC revealed the B.C. government was suing some of those homeowners, arguing they were ineligible to purchase under these requirements.

 

On March 5, the B.C. government said there were eight claims filed against Vivid at the Yates homeowners, and in the past few days an additional 14 lawsuits have been filed, bringing the total to 22. The province says BC Housing will plans to file more lawsuits in the coming weeks.

 

 

 

https://www.cheknews...owners-1194216/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 09 March 2024 - 03:24 PM.

[phx]

I can't believe how much incorrect and misinformation was put out by the media on this tory in the first 48 hours.....wtf happened to journalism? 

 

Not one journalist thought to look at the qualification criteria/paperwork? 

 

A bit of Gell-Mann amnesia here?

[Mike K.]

Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

- Michael Crichton

[Victoria Watcher]

After many affluent owners of multiple properties scammed B.C. Housing by buying publicly subsidized units in ­Victoria that were supposedly for middle-income, first-time buyers, the NDP government had a problem.

 

It centred on the Vivid building in downtown Victoria, which opened in 2021. Ample evidence started emerging soon after that buyers were bypassing restrictions designed to keep them available for middle-income people. Much legal work started internally in government to rectify the situation.

 

A key issue in the recovery effort was whether to come clean and admit the government had been played, or stay mum while the legal proceedings played out.

 

CBC reporter Jason Proctor, who broke the Vivid story last spring based on the blizzard of lawsuits that developed, followed up on it this week after getting reams of government documents via freedom-of-information.

 

They confirm that the Housing Ministry — headed by NDP Leader David Eby — opted to keep quiet. It wasn’t until Proctor combed the court registry that it became clear to taxpayers that a key NDP affordability move aimed at the “missing middle” part of the housing market had blown up in their faces.

 

Chard Developments got a $53-million low-interest loan from the government to build Vivid. It was to lower construction costs so that savings could be “passed on to qualifying buyers so units could be purchased at below-market prices,” the government said.

 

Units were supposed to be offered only to people who made under $150,000 a year, who didn’t own any other property.

 

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...rchases-9612371

 

 

 

 

Eby’s first reaction when the Vivid story broke was to say that the pilot program behind the loan was created by the previous B.C. Liberal government.

 

“I cleaned up mess after mess after these guys left.”

 

But this is entirely his mess. He’d been housing minister for four years by the time Vivid opened and started selling condos to people who had no business living there.

He was the one who issued the news release when it was completed, congratulating himself for helping it happen.

 

_________________________________

 

But up to a third of the units were bought by people who may have bypassed the qualifications.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 October 2024 - 04:27 AM.

[LJ]

Yeah, that was a good article. Typical politician is Eby, always blame someone else for your screw-ups.

[Victoria Watcher]

$1,498,800

 

https://www.realtor....ctoria-downtown

 

I'm sure the demand is HUGE for street-level space on the 800-blk Johnson.    

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 March 2025 - 06:03 PM.