 Okay, we're good. We're good. All right. My name is Spencer Chandler Herbert. I'm the member of the legislature for Vancouver's West End and Colt Harbor neighborhoods, and I'm glad to be here. I see my colleague MLA for this neighborhood, Katrina Chen. Thank you for being here. Of course the mayor of Burnaby. Welcome, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for having us here, and of course I want to acknowledge the Sleil-A-Tooth, the Squamish-Musqueam nations for having us here on their traditional territories. It's a good day to be here. I'm here today as the newly announced liaison for renters. Thank you, Mr. Premier. Glad to keep doing this work, and I'm here today because I'm so excited about what we're going to hear shortly, but I won't give it away just yet, because I'm here to share that of course what we all know together is that people need secure, affordable housing. They need it to be able to live their best lives. They need it to be able to give back to their communities, to support our province, to grow our economy. That's what we as a provincial government want for everyone in our province, is to have safe, secure, affordable housing. But we know that for too long this has not been a given for people. For too many, they've had safe, secure housing, and then they've seen it taken away. Whether or not it's because of greed, whether or not it's because of neglect, there's too many reasons, and that's why we need a provincial government that acts for renters, that acts for affordable housing. Our government is doing that, banning the fixed-term tenancy loophole, banning the geographic area increase clause, increasing resources for the residential tenancy branch so that they can both step in when there's illegal actions happening to stop them before people lose their housing, and then penalize those that are harming people through illegal actions. We need secure housing, and we need to help in all the ways possible. We also need to build more affordable housing, and that's what we're doing with over 36,000 new units on the way or already open in this province. That's record-setting pace, and I like to say we're only getting started because there's so much more to do. To share some of that so much more to do, I'm excited to introduce a friend from a long time back who's been an advocate, a supporter of renters, a fighter for housing since before he entered politics, and I'm so grateful he's our Premier. Please welcome Premier David E. B. Thank you very much Spencer. Thanks for taking on the role of special liaison on renters, a critically important role for our province that renters have a strong voice in our government, and I'm really glad that you're stepping up to do that. I am really excited to be here at Cardston today, joined by Rabbi Calon, Minister for Housing. You've met the special liaison for housing, Spencer Chandra Herbert. We have the CEO of the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, the Nonprofit Housing Association, the Co-op Housing Federation, and in particular I'd like to welcome Gay Monkman, who is here. She is the Chair of the Co-op at 115 Place Housing Co-op, the President, pardon me, and she'll be speaking about her experience here. This building, the reason why I'm excited to be here is this is one of three buildings in Burnaby where we preserved 425 units of affordable co-op homes for seniors and those with moderate incomes, and it was made possible because of a significant investment from our government, but not just our government. It was also a partnership between BC Housing, the Community Land Trust of BC, and in particular the City of Burnaby, and Mike Hurley is here, the Mayor of the City of Burnaby, and I just have to say, you know, we wouldn't have gotten across the line without his leadership and without the leadership of the City of Burnaby on this on this important purchase. I was talking with Gay before we came out here today about her memory of us talking on the phone, when in the depths of despair when this building was looking at when it was up for sale, when it was potentially going to be purchased by a large international real estate, large national real estate investment trust, or somebody else, and the distress and the strain for the people who lived in this building. What does this mean for our rents? What does this mean for our homes, for our community, vulnerable seniors, and I am so glad that we came to a positive outcome from that conversation. Thank you, Gay, for your work. BC, as we know BC is a wonderful place to live. We know that's why we're seeing record numbers of people choosing to move to our province, which is wonderful news, but we also know that finding an affordable home is challenging. The long-lasting effects of the pandemic, our growing population, supply chain issues, labour challenges are all contributing to a very serious housing crisis. And for too long, this housing crisis has worked to the benefit of speculators and investors, instead of people looking for a place to live. Increasingly, we're seeing activity across Canada and in British Columbia of large international corporations buying up rental buildings, speculating to earn investment income on homes that people count on affordable rents and in communities where people need to live. They're called real estate investment trusts. And in too many cases, this predatory model leads to evictions and rent hikes and can lead to homelessness. As a result, middle class families, seniors, vulnerable people are facing challenges just living in their own home communities. There is no feeling worse than waking up in the morning and seeing a for sale sign on the front lawn of the building that you live in because it opens up a whole question about whether you're going to be able to stay in your home. Now, there are others out there that would invite that speculation back into our housing market who think it's a great idea to have investors acting in this way and putting housing into a precarious position, putting renters into a precarious position in their house. We disagree. We're cracking down on speculation and we're making investments to protect housing just like we did here at Cardston Court and we're starting to see real results. Purpose built rental construction was up 10% last year. That's the highest rate of purpose built rental construction ever since data started being collected by BC housing and seven times what it was just a decade ago. But despite this increase, we can't afford to lose affordable rental housing. We need to keep pace with population growth and we need to be adding more housing, not losing affordable housing to make sure that homes are about people and not about investors. We need to do more. That's why today I'm so pleased to announce the creation of a new $500 million renter protection fund. This fund is going to preserve affordable housing for renters across BC for many years to come. It will provide one time capital grants to nonprofit housing organizations to purchase affordable rental buildings and co-ops that are listed for sale. This will protect renters living there now and safeguard that affordable housing for the long term. We expect the fund to protect renters in thousands of affordable units. Preventing people from getting evicted and seeing their former homes redeveloped into out of reach luxury condos or high end housing is one of the key purposes of this fund. This builds on other steps we've taken to deliver the homes we need as part of the first 100 days that I've been in office. We've removed unfair strata restrictions to turn empty condos into homes available for rent. We're working with municipalities to set ambitious targets to deliver more housing and we're taking urgent action to get people off of the streets and into stable housing. If the pandemic taught us one thing is that going it alone doesn't work. We're all in this together. We could not do this work without partners like the city of Burnaby, the nonprofit housing associations, the co-op housing sectors, the indigenous housing sectors. All of us are united in our belief that a home is foundational to building a good life and key to building a stronger BC. One where everyone can find a home that they can afford that is good for them, good for their family and where nobody gets left behind. Thank you. Now please to hand it over to Minister Calon for further remarks. Good thank you so much Premier and good morning and thanks to everybody here. A lot more people than I thought on a rainy day. It's nice to see all the smiley faces for this amazing announcement. I too want to acknowledge that we are here today on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish people, the Musqueam, Squam, Shinslewa, Tooth Nation. As the Premier has highlighted, for too long people in BC have struggled to find homes that they can afford and homes that they deserve. After two decades of underinvestment in affordable housing, we're seeing the impacts of the housing crisis on people and in our communities. Many of those people have faced the impossible choice of leaving their community and to find a home that they can afford. That to us is unacceptable. And that is why our government is working tirelessly to make sure that we can that people in our communities can stay where they want to live, stay where they have community connections and have a home where they feel safe and comfortable. Premier Ebe has set out a very ambitious housing plan for our province and I'm committed to make sure that we're delivering on that plan that's providing and retaining housing for British Columbians so they can build a good life for themselves and for their families. We've already taken some key steps to increase housing in our province with more than 36,000 units that are either built or underway. Housing, just like the building behind us, the Cardston Court Cooperative and today as a Premier and else we're very excited to build on that important work. This rental protection fund will allow us to continue to preserve affordable rental co-op housing stock and provide good homes for British Columbians. Now we know the housing needs are great, which is why we're expediting the creation of this fund so that this fund can facilitate the first acquisitions hopefully later this year, which I'm really excited about. We also recognize this fund should be in the hands of the people who know the non-market housing industry the best. That's why it will be managed by this external group of our not-for-profit partners with strong expertise in this sector. The Aboriginal Housing Management Association, the BC not-for-profit Housing Association and the Cooperative Housing Federation of British Columbia. These strong partnerships between the province and the not-for-profits is critical to delivering the affordable homes for people in BC. We're grateful for these amazing organizations for their knowledge for the work that they've been doing to support affordable housing throughout this province. And I know the Premier mentioned we can expect this fund will allow not-for-profits to prevent thousands of units from being lost to redevelopment, meaning fewer people will be displaced from their homes. While this is an exciting new step, we know there's a lot more work to be done. Our government will continue to work every day on more housing options, more affordable housing options for people across this province. And now to share more about what this fund means to the not-for-profit community, I'd like to welcome Margaret Fohl, who is the CEO of the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, just to the podium to say a few words. Margaret. All right. So Exit Nunn, thank you, Minister Calone. So Exit Nunn, Premier Ebe. In the language of my Simshan ancestors, I'm saying thank you for having us here. I'm not sure, Minister Calone, if everybody's really smiling or if, like me, it's their teeth chattering, because I certainly feel like my teeth are chattering at this particular moment. But it's an honour for the Aboriginal Housing Management Association of BC, AMA, to be here today with our partners from the provincial government and our partners from the sector, BCMPHA, Gillack Key and CHFBC, Tom Armstrong, in the rollout of this announcement of the $500 million investment in the rental protection fund. It's a critical step, you know, we all, I used to say, just as late as last summer, we all just need to look in our own backyards of our communities to see the depth and despair of the housing crisis and the impact it is having in our communities. But now I actually say we only need to look into our own families, because I don't think there's a single one of us as human beings here in British Columbia or across Canada that haven't been somehow impacted along the spectrum of housing, not only here in British Columbia, but across Canada. And activities and investments like this rental protection fund are one part of the key solutions that need to be to be installed in order for us to mitigate that ongoing crisis. And so we are grateful to be here. We're honoured to be here with our partners. We know that we need to do more. Minister Calon alluded to some of the 100-day commitments that Premier Ebi announced when he was, what's the language, when you were sworn in? I was going to say installed, but that didn't sound right. When you were sworn in, you know, a very ambitious plan, but something that is absolutely essential for us to affect change in our community. And to that end, our organization, the Aboriginal Housing Management Association, almost a year ago today on January 26, 2022, released the first ever provincial urban role in Northern Indigenous housing strategy that is truly a for Indigenous by Indigenous strategy that was led by the voices of our people. It's a very comprehensive and evidence-based strategy that I encourage everyone to take a look at. You can find it on our website. But we created that strategy because the solutions need to be driven by community. And the fact that our Premier and our Minister recognized that when it came to the Rental Protection Fund by putting their faith and their trust in sector leaders like BCNPHA, CHFBC and AMA is a huge example for the rest of this country. In fact, for the rest of the world to take notice of. And I share that framework with you because we as Indigenous leaders are frequently asked across this country why it seems that BC is always a leader in housing innovation. Why is BC and Indigenous BC in particular always coming to the forefront with solutions for community that are driven by community? In fact, we get asked on an international scale from our colleagues in Australia and New Zealand on the innovation and creation of not only our organization, but the level of investment that this government has been putting to ground for the last couple of decades into housing, which other provinces aren't seeing. In fact, other countries aren't seeing the kind of leadership that is demonstrated here in British Columbia. And my answer is two things. One, tenacity. We don't give up. No is not an option. And I know my colleagues in government know this because they get hounded by me every day for the last 25 years to constantly make change and to make investments. But the second and most important one is partnerships. And that's the partnerships not only amongst the sector. Having sector leaders like Jill Atke at BCNPHA and Tom Armstrong at CHFBC not only be allies to the housing crisis for all, but to recognize that Indigenous people in the current housing crisis have been even more impacted by the negative impacts that we're seeing across the spectrum of housing. And both of our sector leaders have volunteered to put that issue first and foremost on their platforms within the not-for-profit and the co-op housing sector. And so I want to acknowledge that that true allyship is about understanding where the most critical needs are. And I raise my hands to my colleagues for the work that they've done. The last and probably the most important piece is the need for government to step up and all levels of government to step up. Municipal leaders, provincial leaders and federal leaders not only stepping up as we heard earlier but stepping in and understanding what the crisis really is and where the strength and power of solutions can come from. And again I'm just going to reiterate for the 25 plus years that the Aboriginal Housing Management Association has been on the ground we could not be where we are today without this government constantly supporting us constantly being behind us and more importantly investing in the work that we're doing here. And so I just want to say thank you to our provincial partners and allies for all of the great work that they do and we look forward as sector leaders to supporting our community through this new Rental Protection Fund. So with that I'll say to AXIM thank you everyone for being here and I'll turn this over to Jill Atkey from BCNPHA. Thank you. Thanks Margaret. So it might be really miserable outside but it's actually a beautiful day to be standing alongside our partners at OMA, CHFBC and the province of British Columbia. So I want to start out with a number 815. 815 dollars is what's considered an affordable rent for someone working full-time minimum wage. And another number 97,390. That's how many homes renting for less than a thousand dollars a month that we lost between 2016 and 2021. Homes that were once within reach for a minimum wage worker and are now out of reach. As Margaret said when I speak to colleagues across the country there's a familiar pattern there. This is happening right across our entire nation but the difference is how lucky we are and this is a pretty regular reminder to have such a strong partner in this government. Where truly historic investments are being made into new affordable housing supply as the minister mentioned earlier. Those new investments into new supply are critical but they're no longer sufficient to solve the housing crisis. Building alone will not solve this crisis. And that's why government's investment into protecting what we already have is so vital. Now just very briefly for those skeptical about this approach I want to share an example that I sort of personally hold up as a measure of what can be accomplished through the mission drive of the community housing sector. In 2005 one of our members Brightside Community Homes Foundation purchased a rental building in Kitsilano over on the west side of Vancouver. 21 one-bedroom units renting at market rates at the time get this $750 a month. That building now in 2023 runs on a rent geared to income model. Average rents are $865 a month some as low as $450 a month with no tenant in that building paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent. All of that with no operating subsidy ongoing operating subsidy from government and after completing retrofits to the building. Now 2023 is not 2005 but with the right combination of grants and financing the same outcomes can be achieved today. And that's the power of the non-profit model. It's also the power of the investment that government has announced here today. So Premier Ebe, Minister Calon, MLA Chandra Herbert, thank you for your investment in the sector and for your trust in the sector. With that I want to turn things over to my colleague Tom Armstrong CEO of CHFBC. I think I'll skip that. So is anybody too warm? Thank you Jill. Appreciate it. It's a pleasure to be here once again with our partners. Jill from the BC Nonprofit Housing Association, Margaret from the Aboriginal Housing Management Association. It also feels like a bit of a reunion for the Cardston Court crew. Welcome to Mayor Hurley and MLA Katrina Chen who worked so hard to make this possible that we're standing here today still a non-profit housing co-op with permanently affordable homes for forever. So thank you to the board and the members of 115 Place Housing Co-op for your hospitality. I want to acknowledge the directors and staff also of the CHFBC team who joined us here today. This is your day too so enjoy it. Please, really pleased to connect once again after a long time with MLA Spencer, Chandra Herbert and to acknowledge your long-standing tenacious work as an advocate for renters and congratulations on your new appointment. And of course I want to say to the Premier and to the Minister simply thank you for your trust and your confidence, your willingness to lead not just in BC but but Canada where you will not find a similar precedent as hard as you might look. The idea behind this initiative is breathtakingly simple. If you want to protect a scarce and valuable asset put it somewhere safe and if that scarce and valuable asset is affordable rental housing the safest place you can put it is in the community housing sector where the only reason we get up in the morning is to provide safe secure permanently affordable homes to anyone who needs one. The powerful idea behind this initiative is that we can't keep losing affordable homes more quickly than we build them. Now I'm no math genius I can already hear my staff team saying no kidding but I know that if you add 10 new homes and lose 20 you're down 10 homes but that's the hole we dug for ourselves and this announcement is the shovel that's going to allow us to start digging back up. I'm so full of optimism for this partnership and for this new fund I can't wait to be at an event sometime in the near future to tell you that we've already exceeded our minimum unit targets that were ready for another round of investment that we've already secured new investments from other levels of government and other fund contributors but that's for another day. Today is the day to celebrate this new partnership between the government and the community housing sector to celebrate a government that's willing to lead not just the province but the country with the bold innovative plan to protect rental housing for renters who depend on it for their safety and security. We cannot wait to get to work so it's now my pleasure to introduce someone who knows this issue from quite a different perspective the president of 150 in place housing co-op Gay Monkman. Thank you Tom and good morning everyone and thank you for coming and thank you to the media for taking this to our province the rest of our province. My name is Gay Monkman and I am the president of 115 place housing co-op and I'd like to thank the premier and the minister for this announcement today which has a very special meaning for the members of our co-op. The past few years have been very confusing and very stressful for all of our membership but through all the hard work of all of those involved we now see the light at the end of the tunnel and because of this announcement today I am personally saying welcome to my home welcome to my home. The premier who was minister of housing at the time arranged for the financing for community land trust to buy our land and our buildings and in turn the community land trust leased it back to the co-op and now we're working in partnership to make a wonderful life together. I would like to feel that our success here can be used as a model and inspiration for those to follow. Again thank you premier Iddy and thank you minister Callan sorry for giving people in a similar situation to ours hope that our homes will be secure and affordable for the foreseeable future. Thank you. Thank you so much Gay so thank you to our speakers thank you Gay Jill Margaret Tom of course minister Callan and minister Evie premier Evie anyways we do have some time for questions I think George over here is going to lead us off on there and i'll step over here because I imagine you might want to talk to the taller guy you know. We'll be turning to immediate questions right now we have a few questions on the line then we'll turn to people here joining us. We'll start things off just a reminder for all reporters on the line to unmute your phones otherwise we won't be able to hear you. So starting off with Richard Zussman Global News Richard go ahead. Here I'm trying to understand here what would happen in a potential bidding war if there are developers or companies from outside of this country even within the country that are interested in these properties could they not then compete against this fund drive up the prices and in essence force whoever purchases the building to then charge renters more doing in essence the reverse of what you hope will happen here. Thanks Richard. So a couple pieces one is in the case of Cardston for example this building was held by a pension fund that had a particular interest in trying to find a purchaser that would protect tenants and there are many owners like that that you know they've run their they've had the family building for a long time they're aging they want to sell but they have a personal relationship with the tenants they want to make sure the tenants are protected and I think in many cases we're going to see sellers preferentially selling to the nonprofit sector in other cases in particularly sensitive buildings nonprofits may be in fact in a contest for purchasing the building but it will be part of the structure of this fund that there are fixed grants per unit that the business case has to make sense and that the building needs to be self-sustaining without ongoing funding so that will be a limit on the amount that it will be able to pay but there are many opportunities across the province for this fund to be successful and I think in fact many sellers that will preferentially sell to the fund. Follow up Richard. Yeah you're making a big assumption though about what people's interests are you're just pushing money into a marketplace that could drive up costs I'm just trying to understand if you're stopping it all these sort of bidding wars but but I also have to ask you separately for another story about ICBC. You put a lot of effort in your previous job into building a new model at ICBC it has dramatically lowered rates but we are still seeing everyday concerns from British Columbians that they are not getting from ICBC what they are owed when they are in a serious crash. What sort of accountability is there at ICBC to ensure that people get their lost wages and actually get the type of treatments that they need they're often being told that you know they may have a doctor referral but ICBC is saying oh well you can only get this type of treatment or this type of support that is closer to your home so what sort of accountability is there for ICBC to ensure that this enhanced care model is working? Thanks Richard to the first point it's it's not an assumption it's based on experience in Cartston Court here we had a seller that was looking for a purchaser that was going to protect tenants if that was possible and and we had to work hard to make it possible but we did thanks the partnership with the city of Burnaby the hard work at local MLA Katrina Chen and others we know that those opportunities are out there in addition the real estate investment trusts they have a business model too they see the investment upside and they're working within those constraints as well so it's not like they're going to pay unlimited amounts for these but the reality is that there are many opportunities for this fund and you're going to see it and I'm very excited about the opportunities to protect renters make sure that that affordable housing stays and the really exciting part about this is when a non-profit has that equity in a building they have the ability to leverage that over time to buy other buildings without further assistance we see this in many jurisdictions around the world including the United Kingdom so the non-profit sector becomes with an investment like this creates the possibility to leverage that into future purchases as well so that's the really exciting part in addition there are many foundations local governments and others that could top up money to be able to protect vital housing in their communities so this is actually a very exciting announcement including around future redevelopment of sites where there are aging buildings that need to be replaced that the tenants are protected and more rental housing is even brought on so it's a it's a very exciting day and that's why everyone's in such a good mood here beyond that for ICBC we knew that when we shifted to the new model of a care-based model where the focus was on rehabilitation and treatment and support for people to get better as opposed to compensation for lawyers and years-long court processes that there would be challenges that would come up so we put in place a number of safeguard levels we put in place the omens we strengthen the omens person's office within ICBC people can complain to bring their concerns to that office within ICBC for a second opinion we put in place the civil resolution tribunal and gave them the resources so that people can go to the civil resolution tribunal to challenge decisions made by ICBC that accountability is really important and certainly we're going to have cases come up where people are challenging ICBC's decisions and ICBC's decisions will be overturned in fact that's happened on a number of occasions already at the civil resolution tribunal so that will continue but the model will refine as well you'll see in Minister Farmers mandate letter I have asked them specifically to look at the issues related to cyclists and pedestrians for example that's something that has come up repeatedly we'll have to continue to refine but the good news for British Colombians is we have some of the best benefits in the country some of the lowest rates in the country our public auto insurer is breaking even and we were able to guarantee freeze on car insurance rates for the next two years look at any jurisdiction across the country with private insurers and see what kind of an offer you get there and you'll realize why we made those changes and what benefits come to British Colombians through a public auto insurer. Thank you next we have Finder Sajin, CTV News. Finder your line's open. Premier I understand you're there at Cardstone Court and I'm looking at a release from BC Housing that says that the BC Housing provided about 132 million dollars for that project your fund here is about 500 million dollars which would mean about four projects of that size but I'm wondering if you have an estimate of how many projects you think maybe by the end of the year we could see where nonprofits are buying up buildings like that. We believe that this fund is going to create the possibility for financing of thousands of units the exact numbers are going to vary the prices for real estate obviously vary quite dramatically across the province Metro Vancouver has some of the most expensive housing in the world but when you get outside of Metro Vancouver and you're talking about rental buildings in Smithers or a rental building in out in the Kootenai somewhere the prices come down quite dramatically and and it really stretches the budget in addition nonprofit organizations have the capacity to identify other funders other supports that are available to stretch those dollars so it's very hard to put a firm number on how many units we're going to be able to realize through this fund and our partnerships but we believe it's in the thousands of units. Follow-up Bender? Yes please and I understand that you know it sounds like at the process that would take a while to go through and I'm sure you here and we all hear of people who are looking for housing right now and so what do you say to somebody who may be looking for housing right now is looking around not finding anything that is affordable saying I'm sure they might say that this is nice for the future but it doesn't meet their immediate needs. Yes so what this fund is really aimed at is you heard Tom Armstrong talk about when you're in a hole with a shovel you know you need to stop digging you need to to to deal with the fact that you keep going deeper and that's what this fund is about so when you're talking about Cardston Court here the building that we're at this is 425 units hundreds of people that are not out on the market looking for rental housing somewhere else right now because we bought and protected these renters homes and so this will help take the pressure off the rental market but we know that's not enough we set a record this year for purpose built rental housing so we know that our policies and programs are working but we know that we need to do so much more so for renters that are and home buyers that are looking for a place they can afford I want them to know that our government is very focused on this is one of our key priority areas to address the housing crisis and we know that our work must continue in this area and you will continue to see more from us around housing affordability. Next we have Rob Shaw check news Rob go ahead Hi Premier different topic could you give us your reaction to CanForrest decision to permanently close the pipeline in Prince George which has cost 200 people their jobs and what government's doing to help there? Thanks Rob this is obviously devastating news for those 300 individuals who have lost their jobs for their families these are people with mortgages with car payments an incredibly stressful time for them and for the whole community in Prince George. We see that I understand that and so government is deploying a crisis response team to Prince George we have resources available for situations like this to support those individuals and those families that are going to be in crisis as a result of this decision our team that will be there will support those individuals and going through to be able to access those benefits that we have whether it's around training transitioning to retirement or other supports. I'm going to be up in Prince George personally next week I look forward to meeting with people affected I'll certainly be meeting with the mayor and others it's it's terrible news and government will be there to support those families Sure thanks there's a pitch from the BC pulp and paper coalition made to your government last July to help them transition to a future focus on things like the packaging for you know online products stuff that would be value added and create jobs I'm wondering if you could tell us have you seen this pitch is your government interested in helping save some of these mills with transformation before they close and what's the status of it yes I'm I'm aware of the proposal and government's been working closely with industry on innovation on transition so that they can do more value added products keep jobs in the province one of the changes making sure that forestry companies take more material out of the bush so that it's available for pulp and and paper as opposed to just leaving it when they're done with the site but in terms of the specific proposals around support for innovation we'll have more to say in the coming days on that and and I'm very interested in this opportunity of making a sustainable forest industry recognizing that with pine beetle kill and failure of previous governments to replant we do have a shortage of of timber and feedstock so we need to get more jobs out of the trees that we do have and that will only come through innovation and and using materials wisely next we have Lisa Yusta city news Lisa go ahead hi there premier I'm wondering what safeguards there are to ensure that the organization getting this money to purchase buildings will keep them at a solid standard and at rent that are affordable and how do you assure that they're going to be purchased in communities where units are most needed you mentioned Smithers that isn't what people think of really when they think of rental challenges yeah it's it's disturbing to many British Columbians how the housing crisis has spread into much smaller communities during the pandemic we saw many people choose to relocate to smaller communities that hadn't seen rental housing or housing construction even at a significant level for many years plus with our growing population we're seeing people choose to locate in centres other than the lower mainland we're seeing growing populations across the province so that rental housing strain that affordable housing strain is showing up in different places in the province and so one of the things that that we're counting on and and we'll be entering into an agreement with these nonprofit housing sector leaders that have set up the society that will administer this fund will be entering into a formal agreement with them that will have safeguards to ensure that that government's expectations are met around these housing purchases around accountability and and I have real confidence in these affordable housing leaders they know where the issues are they know where the opportunities are and and they will be able to act quickly to protect renters and to protect that housing Lisa follow up yes it's for a specific story we're working on similar kind of issue a renter in the trout-like area living in the same three bedroom for nine years with some different roommates throughout recently a flood one roommate left and the landlord took this opportunity to enforce a rule allowing that they end the rental agreement he's offered to stay on at a higher rent landlord says they can't do that residential tennessee branch said they can't do that and so this person who's lived there for nine years is now going to be ousted it seems like another loophole that's there correct protecting landlords not renters is there anything you can do or that the province can do we continually monitor what's happening in the rental housing market and in particular issues coming out of the residential tennessee branch issues around eviction for example or rent hikes and we have adjusted our laws accordingly to respond when we saw so-called rent evictions where people put up a coat of paint and and say they need a vacant unit to do that and kick out a long-standing tenant closing those loopholes the fixed-term lease loophole it seems like there's no end of creativity on the part of some people that are seeking to exploit renters it's disappointing there's so many responsible landlords the few bad examples can really set a tone but we will address issues as they come up roommates a particularly challenging issue but mr calon is currently with the special liaison for renters looking at our residential tennessee branch rules making sure that they're relevant for what's happening in the market right now next we have dirk meisner can you press dirk your line's open hi hi premier is there any um hi well what up is there any protection can say a non-profit buying buying up property through with the government funds and then turning around and selling it so we're going to enter into an agreement with the non-profit housing operators that are going to form the board of this society that's going to administer this fund to make sure that our expectations are met and one of those key expectations is that tenants are protected and that's the whole purpose of the fund so there are going to be situations dirk where there's an older rental building that needs significant capital repairs and the non-profit with the renters may come to the conclusion that it needs to be redeveloped that there can be new rental units built and there can be a larger building built on the site and so there may be situations like that but this will not be a fund that is used for speculation by non-profit housing organizations but of course that would be completely contrary to the mission of the very organizations that are going to be benefiting from this fund well thank you i'm also wondering um what will this move at all help renters who are who are not in non-profit housing like lowering rent yes so this this fund is specifically aimed at those renters that are living in a privately owned purpose-built rental building and it is aimed to help them because when the non-profit purchases that building the non-profit will be working with those renters to ensure that rents stay affordable that there are tendencies that their ability to have an affordable home is protected and that the building that the units remain affordable going forward and so this fund is actually intended for those people that are currently living in precarious privately owned rental buildings that might otherwise be sold to an international or national investment fund we've got one more question on the phone line and then we're going to turn to in person kate arosa over you hi premier thanks for taking my question is there a plan for legislation that was also part of your housing platform to create a law allowing non-profits to have first right of refusal so it prevents abiding war with private investors yes i'm very interested in in our government pursuing a right of first refusal around the purchase of private rental buildings by these large real estate investment trust the government of kebek has implemented right of first refusal like this that kind of policy reform gives us a handle on what's happening in the market but also gives us the opportunity to to purchase with funds that we now have available this fund is the first step the policy work on any change like that is ongoing and it will not be in the upcoming legislative session but it is something we are actively looking at okay you have a follow-up and the release i've said that the province will also support non-profits to get funding from you know private you know private financing so with the 500 million considering that is a limited amount of money is it that the the one-time capital grant isn't necessarily going to provide all of the funds to purchase a property but part of the funds and then the rest will be done through private financing so the the karsten court example that we're at here today might be a good example resources came from the provincial government from the city of bernaby together to to complete this purchase but there are in addition private foundations and others that may be providing funding it may be that a non-profit access is financing to to make up the difference it could be that the purchase is part of a larger plan to use financing to purchase more than one site i wonder uh tom or jill if either of you want to talk about the opportunities with foundations or financing yes thanks premier we we do believe and have been in in conversation with foundations and other social impact investors who are looking for a place to earn a modest return on an investment but also achieve a social return so we think there are many many opportunities to expand the resources that are going to be available through this fund and that's why we're excited about today we can't wait to get started sourcing those additional funds thanks very much we're going to in person here to your right premier benoît from cbc rato canada uh bonjour premier um my question is about the financing will the 500 million come from the next february budget and also after what happens to the fund in the next years will it be refinanced so the 500 million dollars for this fund is coming from this fiscal year the money will be deployed before the end of the fiscal year which means for the purchase of rental buildings that that work could start as soon as within the next 60 to 90 days which is really exciting this is going to be happening very quickly but obviously responsibly and but with a sense of urgency about the housing crisis that we're facing so i'm really excited that that work is going to start right away my question was about about the also about the next year oh i see yes and and and going forward we'll review how the program has done the purchases that have been made the leveraging of government's money with additional private financing and other partners and make decisions about future allocations at that point yes uh british columbians have lived through an astonishing number of weather related crises whether floods or forest fires the heat dome many of them linked to human caused climate change we're seeing in california massive atmospheric rivers similar to what we saw in the phraser valley it is concerned about the shifting weather patterns caused by climate change that led me to establish a new ministry for government to ensure that we are prepared for this that for the areas where we can predict there'll be impacts on infrastructure whether it's highways whether it's homes and that we're prepared for that that the dykes are in place that the emergency responses are in place related to climate change that we're preparing for what's coming we have done significant work and on lessons learned out of previous forest fire seasons out of the atmospheric rivers the heat dome implementing recommendations implementing lessons learned we will continue to be there for british columbians affected by weather related crises and we have a dedicated minister and ministry to that very issue now thanks very much that's all we have time for today's great thanks very much i can't feel my hands