Over 93% of the donors to the 3rd Party Election Advertising Sponsor Homes For Living during the 2022 Local Government Election, donated anonymously. Serious questions need to be raised with the Province over the lack of transparency surrounding local government election campaign financing.
Out of 59 donors to HFL’s 2022 election advertising campaign, only 4 of those are named contributors on the organization’s Sponsorship Contributions list with Elections BC. The other 55 are anonymous donors.
The findings indicate that it is well over time for overhauling the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act (LECFA) so that the financing of 3rd party election advertising is transparent, if not eliminated completely.
Homes For Living backed candidates in the 2022 election formed majorities after on the councils of the City of Victoria, the District of Saanich, and the District of Oak Bay.
By Sasha Izard
Aug 24, 2025
The group Homes For Living (HFL) advances a development agenda primarily to local governments, but also to the Province of BC. During the 2022 Local Government Election, the organization operated as a 3rd party election advertising sponsor. The election saw majorities of their backed candidates form majorities afterward on the councils of the City of Victoria, the District of Saanich and the District of Oak Bay. They formed as a Society just before their election. Their constitution reveals that the organization is a political pressure group:
2 Sentence Constitution of the Homes For Living Foundation removes any doubt that Homes For Living (HFL) is a purpose-built pressure group designed to influence municipal politicians. – CRD Watch Homepage
According to the campaign reporting requirements in British Columbia for local government elections, donors who donate less than $100 do not need to be named on campaign donations.
Here’s some statistics around Homes For Living’s donation’s during the last election:
The total number of named campaign donations (over $100 per donation, with 4 names included) reported by Homes For Living to Elections BC for 2022, was: $1,288.00
In comparison, the total number of anonymous campaign donations (under $100 per donation, with 55 names included) reported by Homes For Living to Elections BC for 2022, was: $3,366.00
The total amount of money raised by Homes For Living for the 2022 election campaign was: $4,654.00
1288 as a percentage of 4654, amounts to approximately: 27.68%, which indicates that almost 3 quarters of the money donated to the organization during the campaign came from anonymous donors.
There were 59 campaign donors to Homes For Living in 2022. Only 4 of those donors are named on their Sponsorship Contributions form with Elections BC.
The other 55 donors were anonymous donors, indicating that 93.22% of the campaign donations (not to be confused with the monetary value of the donations) to the organization were from anonymous donors.
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Since the election, after having come under considerable criticism for the opacity surrounding the mysterious origin their campaign financing, Homes For Living’s members now claim that they do not take donations from developers and their family members.
However, as most of their donations are anonymous, how is any member of the public to know if that is true or not?
Clearly they are not transparent about who the vast majority of their election campaign donors actually are.
What percentage of the money donated by the 93.22% of the donors to Home For Living in 2022 that donated anonymously, have comprised money raised from developers, realtors and/or their family members?
When the organization was originally formed, their website mentioned that some of HFL were comprised of developers, but this was subsequently removed from the website.
From the beginning developers appeared on their online Discord channel coaching HFL members how and where to make submissions in support of their projects. The former Chair of the UDI, a provincially registered lobbying organization for development and real estate interests, was observed seeking support for a public hearing in Saanich for a project of the company he works for.
With such a vast majority of the organization’s election campaign donations coming from anonymous donations in the of Homes For Living, it is unlikely to be an isolated case. There is a very real danger of astroturfing for 3rd party elections advertising sponsor organizations across the Province.
Astroturfing is described on Wikipedia as follows:
“Astroturfing is the deceptive practice of hiding the sponsors of an orchestrated message or organization (e.g., political, economic, advertising, religious, or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from, and is supported by, unsolicited grassroots participants.[1] It is a practice intended to give the statements or organizations credibility by withholding information about the source’s financial backers.
The implication behind the use of the term is that instead of a “true” or “natural” grassroots effort behind the activity in question, there is a “fake” or “artificial” appearance of support. It is increasingly recognized as a problem in social media, e-commerce, and politics. Astroturfing can influence public opinion by flooding platforms like political blogs, news sites, and review websites with manipulated content. Some groups accused of astroturfing argue that they are legitimately helping citizen activists to make their voices heard.”
Astroturfing – Wikipedia (Accessed: Aug 24, 2025)
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Conclusion:
As can be seen, the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act (LECFA) does not make the financing of local government elections transparent in British Columbia. Is this by design? it is hard not to see it being otherwise. It seems that the Province of BC has intentionally (they are not blind to the situation they created), made it in law that third party election advertisers need not be transparent about who the vast majority of their campaign donors are. This is a major potential vehicle for undue influence e.g. astroturfing that can overwhelm local government elections with outside influence e.g. industry influence. I strongly suggest that this was done intentionally by the Province. They certainly have not fixed the situation, which suggests that they are perfectly happy with it as it stands.
A dialogue that I had with Elections BC shows other ways at which transparency is prevented in this regard. (See Appendix 2).
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See also: https://crdwatch.ca/index-of-articles-about-homes-for-living/
https://www.focusonvictoria.ca/focus-magazine-march-april-2019/money-still-skewing-local-elections-r15/
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Appendix 1: Homes for Living’s Disclosure Statement for the Local Government Elections of 2022
Appendix 2: Dialogue with Elections BC in regard to a Freedom of Information request that I made regarding HFL’s campaign financing.
Finding where to send a freedom of information request to election’s BC was exceedingly difficult. The answer was not forthcoming by a Google search, nor was it forthcoming from their website. However, given that I have a bit of experience with FOIs, I determined that the appropriate place to email one was: privacy@elections.bc.ca
The following is the dialogue that I had with Elections BC:
Hello Elections BC,
I am submitting a Freedom of Information request for all records/documents regarding Homes For Living, an organization that was registered as a third party electoral organization during the last general local government election (2022). Records/documents regarding the organization would include all communications between Elections BC including by its employees, and the organization Homes For Living. Records/documents would also include financial information about the organization, including the financing of that organization and its origin.
Please include in the scope of the request, the record/document of what date that Homes For Living registered as an electoral organization.
Date range: Jan 1, 2020 to July 7, 2025
Thank you,
Sasha Izard
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EBC Privacy responded:
Dear Sasha Izard:
We have reviewed your request, received on July 11, 2025, for access to all records/documents, including communications, financial information, and registration documentation, regarding Homes for Living, a third party sponsor registered under the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act (LECFA).
Please note that some of the information you have requested is already publicly available. The Homes for Living Local Elections Third Party Sponsor Disclosure Statement can be accessed through the Financial Reporting and Political Contributions System (FRPC): https://contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca/pcs/lepublished/100143687.pdf
Additionally, section 62 of LECFA sets out the information that must be made publicly available in relation to registered third party sponsors. Information related to Homes for Living is included in the list of third party sponsors registered for the 2022 general local elections, available here: https://elections.bc.ca/docs/lecfa/Registered-Third-Party-Sponsors-LEGE-2022-10-15.pdf
We have determined that the remaining records you requested relate to the functions of the Chief Electoral Officer under LECFA and are therefore exempt from release under s. 3(3)(f) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA).
In particular, the requested records relate to the Chief Electoral Officer’s functions respecting registration and disclosure requirements for third party sponsors under Part 3, Division 3, and Part 5, Division 2 of LECFA. This determination is consistent with the long-standing interpretation of Elections BC regarding the application of freedom of information legislation to our operational records; the interpretation has been upheld by Order F20-11 of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia, which held that operational records created by Elections BC are exempt from release under FOIPPA. You may wish to review that Order here: https://www.oipc.bc.ca/orders/2408.
Applicants may ask the Information and Privacy Commissioner to review a decision of this office regarding access to information.
Under s. 52 of FOIPPA, you may ask the Information and Privacy Commissioner to review the decision to not disclose the records that you requested. You have 30 days from the receipt of this letter to request a review by writing to:
Information and Privacy Commissioner
4th Floor, 1675 Douglas Street
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Telephone: (250) 387-5629 Fax: (250) 387-1696
If you wish to request a review, please provide the Commissioner’s office with:
- Your name, address and telephone number;
- The request number assigned to your request (the “reference number” quoted at the top of this letter);
- The type of request that you made to the public body, i.e., access, correction, fee complaint, time limit complaint, etc., or a copy of the request;
- A copy of Elections British Columbia’s decision; and
- The reasons or grounds upon which you are requesting the review.
If you have any questions about this letter, please write or call me at (250) 387-4148 or toll free at 1-800-661-8683 prior to initiating a formal review process with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
Sincerely,
Aidan Brand
Privacy Officer
Elections BC
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While I was able to get some publicly published documents from Elections BC in regard to the subject matter that I had requested through FOI, there was other material that would be inaccessible.
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