Carney defends $1.45B plan to convert unbought B.C. condos to affordable rent-to-own

Prime Minister Mark Carney says the provincial and federal governments have done a poor job of explaining their plan to buy unsold, vacant condos in British Columbia and turn them into affordable housing.

"I don't think we've done — myself included — a particularly good job of rolling this out," Carney said at a news conference in Ottawa Thursday.

Carney and B.C. Premier David Eby announced the plan last week, saying they would leverage "innovative financing tools" to turn more than 2,200 vacant condo units into affordable homes.

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Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre has called the plan a "bailout" for big developers and "a transfer of wealth from the have-nots to the have-yachts."

On Thursday, Carney defended the plan, which he said will help young families and people who don't have money for a down payment "build in" equity over time through a rent-to-buy program.

'We haven't done a good job' explaining plan to buy unsold Vancouver condos, Carney says

He said the federal government would put up 10 per cent of roughly $1.45 billion in total potential spending to convert the units, with the B.C. government sharing the rest of the bill.

However, Eby said later in the day that the provincial government would roughly match the feds for a total of $300 million, with the rest of the money coming from financing.

The federal Ministry of Housing said in a statement that the condos will be purchased at below-market rates.

Carney stressed it was the province that came up with the idea.

"No developer asked for this from me directly," he said.

He said the plan would include buying the "distressed condos" at a discount "at the right time."

But he did not expand on whether all the homes would be rent-to-own.

Carney said the plan is a "more effective way of getting affordable housing immediately into people's hands" than building anew.

"If and when there are transactions, then judge those transactions on the basis of the economics of that, not on the concept."

Eby said at a separate news conference Thursday that the federal government was "enthusiastic" to announce the program when the prime minister was in town, before the details were out.

"I think in hindsight, we should have waited and made sure that all the details were available," Eby told reporters.

But he defended the proposed program and addressed the critique that it functions as a developer "bailout."

"If you are a condo developer that took a bet on the high end of the market, and you're facing significant potential loss of profits, what we are proposing will not assist you," Eby said.

And it won't help Vancouver-based developers either, Eby said, because the numbers don't work for units in the City of Vancouver.

He suggested the program would work in regions such as the Fraser Valley, Okanagan and Vancouver Island.

"Ultimately we'll be buying below the cost of construction. No developers will be profiting from this."

He said it's possible for the government to purchase the homes at a lower cost because they can buy more than one unit at a time.

Buildings in various stages of bankruptcy protection also create the opportunity for governments to buy in a way that individual consumers wouldn't be able to, he added.

He said the program would give people an opportunity to buy a home that wouldn't otherwise have it, and added it isn't the preferred solution of the development industry.

"This comes at no ultimate cost to taxpayers, because the mortgage is an asset for taxpayers."

Further details on the program are coming.

"[If] people hate it? That's OK. We don't have to do it," Eby said.

Lauren Vanderdeen is a Vancouver-based reporter for CBC British Columbia. She formerly worked for community newspapers, including the Burnaby Now and New West Record. You can reach her at lauren.vanderdeen@cbc.ca.