Eby says Vancouver excluded from B.C.-Ottawa condo purchase proposal as 'numbers don't work'

VANCOUVER — Premier David Eby says the City of Vancouver will be excluded from a proposed joint federal-provincial plan to buy more than 2,200 unsold condominiums across British Columbia because the “numbers do not work.”The clarification has drawn outrage from Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, who questioned how the provincial housing minister — a Vancouver MLA — and the federal housing minister — a Vancouver MP and former mayor of Vancouver — could sign a deal that does not help Vancouverites. Sim also asked why Vancouver families do not receive the same GST relief on new housing as families in Toronto, calling the situation “unacceptable.”.Others have raised questions, meanwhile, about where the proposed units for purchase would even come from if not from Vancouver, given that roughly three-quarters of British Columbia’s unsold condo inventory is concentrated in Metro Vancouver..The plan was announced June 18 by Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney as a way to convert vacant or unsold condos into affordable housing, potentially through rent-to-own arrangements, using innovative financing tools. Initial descriptions focused on turning more than 2,200 units into affordable homes for British Columbians.On Thursday, Eby said purchases would not take place in Vancouver because “the numbers don’t work” in the city’s high-cost market. He indicated the program would instead target distressed condo projects in areas such as the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data, there were 5,849 unabsorbed apartments across British Columbia in May 2026. Of those, 4,376 — about 75% — were in Metro Vancouver.While Eby has ruled out the City of Vancouver specifically, a large share of the Metro Vancouver total lies in other municipalities across the region. It is not yet clear how many units in the areas now being emphasized outside the Vancouver core would qualify as sufficiently distressed to allow government purchases below the cost of construction at the scale required to reach 2,200 units.The parameters of the proposal have been clarified in the days since the initial announcement, which both Eby and Carney have acknowledged was rolled out with incomplete details..The program has been described as still in the proposal stage, with potential total spending of roughly $1.45 billion. Ottawa would contribute about 10%, with British Columbia matching for an initial portion and the rest financed.Eby has said the approach would allow governments to buy units below what it would cost to build new ones, focus on distressed assets where developers would take losses rather than profit, and create "rent-to-own opportunities" for people who cannot currently afford down payments. He has maintained that “we don’t have to do it” if the public opposes the plan and that Vancouver’s condo market would correct itself without intervention inside the city.It remains unclear precisely how the 2,200-unit target aligns with available distressed inventory in the regions now being prioritized, or how the plan’s geographic focus has shifted from the impression created at the June 18 announcement. Further details on locations, eligibility and implementation have not yet been released.

Eby says Vancouver excluded from B.C.-Ottawa condo purchase proposal as 'numbers don't work'

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