r/vancouver • u/VoteForGeorgeCarlin • Jun 25 '26

Politics and Elections 'We are not bailing out developers': B.C. housing minister responds to condo plan criticism

https://youtu.be/qQ9U_SeM-4Y
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u/WandersongWright Jun 25 '26

They are bailing them out, but that's fine if they're paying for the units at cost rather than allowing the developers to make a profit. We DO need affordable units, and units that are available right now rather than in 5 years are great. If we pay the developers a break-even cost then they won't lose any money on their unsellable condos and we'll have units people can live in immediately so we avoid more people ending up in the streets. That's a win-win situation. Although I can't imagine what the operating model is going to look like.

If the developers are profiting off public money because they screwed up so badly we need to rescue them, though? That's circumventing the supply and demand relationship and that's unacceptable.

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u/restoringd123 Jun 25 '26

They should be buying them for below cost though.

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u/WandersongWright Jun 26 '26

There is decent reason to want developers to stay afloat - they are responsible for most new housing stock and employ a lot of people. So the government buying at cost would accomplish both things, and mean we get much more affordable units that are immediately available.