Affordable home pilot allegedly 'undermined' by buyers

Built with a $53-million low-interest loan from the province to underwrite the below-market sale of family homes, Victoria's Vivid condominium development was supposed to be a new model for affordable housing in B.C.

Then housing minister — and now premier — David Eby hailed the 2021 completion of construction on the 135-unit building in the provincial capital's downtown as "great news" for middle-income British Columbians hoping to achieve the dream of home ownership.

But court documents obtained by CBC allege that as many as a dozen of those condos were sold to people who already owned property — in some cases multiple homes worth millions.

B.C. Housing claims 13 purchasers never lived in homes they agreed would be their principal residences — in violation of agreements signed for the right to buy at discount prices.

In hundreds of pages of B.C. Supreme Court civil claims, the Crown agency has accused an array of buyers — including a realtor who allegedly made $53,000 in Vivid commissions — of "egregious and reprehensible" conduct.

"The defendant has intentionally undermined the purposes of the Affordable Home Ownership Program for personal benefit," says the boilerplate language in each of the lawsuits.

"The conduct of the defendant has negative repercussions for all of the people of British Columbia."

The Affordable Home Ownership Program is administered by B.C. Housing as part of a multi-pronged effort to combat the affordable housing crisis.

"The intention ... is that units made available through the program be owned and occupied by people who otherwise might be unable to participate in home ownership," the lawsuits read.

In 2021, B.C. Housing called Vivid a "pilot project" for partnerships between the private and public sector to boost "the supply of affordable home ownership options for middle-income families and individuals in Victoria."

The province said it gave a $52.9-million low-interest loan to Chard Developments to build the project. The developer was then expected to "pass the savings on to qualifying buyers so units could be purchased at below-market prices."

As a result, the government claimed homes at Vivid sold for an average of 12 per cent below market rates at the time of purchase.

The civil claims say Vivid buyers all attended an "affordable housing program education session" where they were told the project was financed by B.C. Housing and they "were being provided with a discount on the value of their unit."

To qualify to buy at Vivid, the province said buyers had to be Canadian citizens or permanent residents who could not own property "anywhere else in the world."