AN explosive new Ernst and Young report on BC Housing and Atira Women’s Resource Society has revealed a clear conflict of interest and serious financial mismanagement, the most serious of which took place under the watch of NDP Premier David Eby.

“This report is a stunning indictment of David Eby’s leadership and his gross mismanagement of BC Housing, especially during his time as NDP Housing Minister,” said Karin Kirkpatrick, BC United Critic for Housing. “Eby was aware of a BDO report that showed serious financial mismanagement at Atira and BC Housing and yet, instead of releasing it to the public and immediately addressing the concerns when he first became Housing Minister in 2020, he buried the report and tripled the funding to Atira — from $17 million to over $74 million in 2022.”

The report revealed “at least $90M in public funds was advanced to Atira between the end of FY 2020 and the completion of BC Housing’s most recent financial review.” This came after the buried BDO report that first raised concerns about financial mismanagement at Atira.

“David Eby is now trying to rewrite history, claiming to be righting the wrongs at BC Housing when it’s clear he failed to address the situation when he was minister, and consistently downplayed the issue so it wouldn’t cloud his impending leadership campaign,” said Kirkpatrick. “Eby would have been aware of the serious allegations from day one as Housing Minister, and yet for years he knowingly poured tens of millions of public dollars into an organization that couldn’t be trusted to manage money. The shameful mismanagement of BC Housing and Atira is not just embarrassing for this government — it has resulted in a complete failure to provide adequate support for vulnerable British Columbians. People deserve better.”