Carney admits he did poor job rolling out $1.45 billion B.C. program panned as 'condo bailout'

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney admitted he and his government did a poor job rolling out a controversial federal-provincial program to acquire unsold B.C. condo units and panned by critics as a “condo bailout.”

The prime minister made the rare admission during a 45-minute press conference with reporters Thursday to mark the end of the parliamentary session.

In this case, the error was doing a poor job explaining part of a $3.2 billion suite of measures for the B.C. housing market that would see Build Canada Homes and BC Housing partner up to “convert” 2,200 unsold condo units into affordable housing.

“I want to say up front: I don’t think we’ve done, myself included, a particularly good job of rolling this out and explaining exactly what it is,” Carney said of the program announced with B.C. Premier David Eby last week. “I think it’s important to say a few words of what this is and what this isn’t.”

At the time, the announcement lacked any detail on whether these condos would be acquired at market price or a discounted rate and what the total cost of the measure would be. There was also no clarity on what “innovative financing tools” would be used in the endeavour.

There was also much confusion as to how much either government was earmarking for the acquisitions. The lack of clarity had critics up in arms about the program, with one mortgage specialist telling National Post this week the program appeared to be a “moral hazard” that is “socializing losses while the profits flow to developers”.

Asked to explain the program, Carney quickly obliged while admitting the government’s poor communications around the program.

He said the total acquisition budget is $1.45 billion, with the federal government’s portion tagged at 10 per cent, or $145 million, of that. He also said the government was targeting “distressed condos” and buying them at a discount.

“The province of British Columbia, which initiated the idea, sees an opportunity, potentially given what’s happening in that market, to convert some of these condos that are lying unsold to affordable housing, particularly rent-to-buy affordable housing… people who don’t have money for a down payment but can build that equity over time,” Carney explained.

“So, buying them at a discount at the right time, financing, terming that out, setting up a rent-to-own structure for truly affordable housing,” he added.

He told reporters that he had not been lobbied “directly” by developers for the program and argued that it wasn’t designed for the benefit of developers either.

The Greater Vancouver Area condo market is currently experiencing a correction. A report by the Toronto-Dominion Bank published earlier this month, forecasts roughly 15 per cent peak-to-trough decline from the 2023 high by mid-2027, marking the deepest correction on record since 2005.

There are currently over 4,000 unsold condo units in Vancouver.

National Post, with files from Jordan Gowling.

cnardi@postmedia.com

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