Tax and Fee Relief Wanted, Not An Unsold Condo Buyout
- cz1635
- Jul 26
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 5
Full version originally published in the Vancouver Sun. Here's a summary below. Opinion: B.C.'s middle class needs mortgages, not a government buyout of empty condos
Rick Ilich: If governments genuinely want to tackle housing affordability, they must pivot toward immediate structural reforms
By Rick Ilich, CEO, Townline Homes
Published Jul 09, 2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier David Eby announcing a federal-provincial partnership to bulk-buy 2,200 unsold condominiums in B.C. triggered a wave of political and public skepticism. Critics labelled the $1.5-billion plan a “developer bailout,” suggesting the industry lobbied for governments to absorb market risk using taxpayer dollars.
That is simply untrue.
Let’s set the record straight: The industry proposed ideas to help homebuyers — all things only all levels of government control — but they took a shocking route and caught us off guard. Our goal is to build communities where British Columbians can lay down roots — not to have government become a landlord or a real estate speculator of distressed assets.
For years, we have asked for a reduction in regulations, a reduction in government fees imposed on us and GST imposed on buyers, and a reduction in policies that drive up the cost of building homes, which in turn increases the cost of buying a home.
We especially want housing made attainable for middle-income earners — workforce housing, something our premier publicly supported as housing minister.
Workforce housing fills a critical gap for employed people who don’t qualify for government assistance and can’t afford to pay market rents in the city where they work. Many of these workers are essential service workers like teachers, hospitality employees, and grocery clerks, alongside emergency first responders and frontline health-care workers who a healthy city relies on.
B.C.’s housing debate should be focused on helping ordinary buyers, not rescuing a strained condo market. The province’s middle class needs access to mortgages and affordable ownership options, rather than a government-backed plan that buys up empty condos from developers and turns them into a public housing workaround. It frames the current approach as a misplaced use of taxpayer money that treats the symptoms of the housing crisis without fixing the underlying affordability problem.
Governments should not step in to use taxpayers' dollars to buy unsold inventory at a time when many working families still cannot qualify for a home or save a down payment. Instead of supporting developers who overbuilt into a weak market, public policy should make it easier for middle-income households to buy homes directly. That means policies that improve access to financing, reduce barriers to ownership, and increase the supply of homes people can actually afford—not just shift ownership of existing empty units from private hands to public ones.
If the goal is to strengthen the middle class, government should focus on making mortgages possible and home ownership attainable.
After much criticism, both leaders are backpedalling. Hopefully, they scrap the plan entirely and start listening to the people who build homes, rather than meeting with us just to check a box.
Additional stories: https://vancouversun.com/business/real-estate/bc-developers-dont-want-buyout-for-empty-condos We welcome your thoughts. Please take our poll!
Follow us @HomesNotBankMachines Share if you care.
Comments