Opinion: B.C.'s middle class needs mortgages, not a government buyout of empty condos

Premier David Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney make an announcement about housing on June 18, 2026 in the River District of south Vancouver. Photo by Government of B.C.

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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.

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That is simply untrue.

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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.

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As the voice of the development industry, Urban Development Institute has been very clear with government: 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.

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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.

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We especially want housing made attainable for middle-income earners — workforce housing, something our premier publicly supported as housing minister.

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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.

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Targeting housing at the middle-income workforce does more than put a roof over heads. It directly solves the severe staffing shortages and retention crisis plaguing our essential services due to the local cost of living. Crucially, allowing frontline workers to live where they serve is a matter of public safety. When natural disasters or emergency crises strike, a localized workforce is essential for an immediate, coordinated emergency response.

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By bringing this workforce to urban areas, we vastly improve the quality of life for the entire centre and reduce gridlock on roads and pressure on public transit. It advances municipal sustainability goals by encouraging green mobility and reinforces regional economic resiliency, fostering thriving, complete neighbourhoods.

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For the province to choose to funnel tax dollars into purchasing existing condo inventory while simultaneously scaling back or suspending critical funding for the Community Housing Fund — programs designed to build new, dedicated affordable housing with projects that had already laid the groundwork — I suggest their advisers missed the mark.