How is it that BC Housing’s Provincial Director of Redevelopment has simultaneously been the Director of a branch of BC’s most powerful lobbying organization for real estate and development interests? And why were they made administrator of BC Housing’s paid membership in that same branch of that same lobbying organization?

How is it that BC Housing’s Provincial Director of Redevelopment has simultaneously been the Director of a branch of BC’s most powerful lobbying organization for real estate and development interests? And why were they made administrator of BC Housing’s paid membership in that same branch of that same lobbying organization?

Not only was the Provincial Director of Redevelopment for BC Housing a Director of the UDI Capital Region, they were also simultaneously the administrator of BC Housing’s paid UDI Capital Region membership.

UDI Capital Region Director Antifeau, with her position in BC Housing informed the UDI through her BC Housing email, that she would try adding as many BC Housing colleagues on the island as possible, to the member list of BC Housing’s UDI Capital Region membership, thus providing them BC Housing access to UDI events (BC Housing could pay the UDI for the BCH employees’ attendance at its events).

Screenshot: from U40 Speakers Series: Lauren Antifeau | Urban Development Institute (Accessed: Oct 20, 2025)

Above snapshot of a UDI event held in the spring of 2024 with the description:

“The Capital Region’s U40 Speaker Series provides a unique platform for young professionals in the real estate and development industry to connect, learn, and be inspired. Join us as Antifeau shares insights from her remarkable career journey, highlighting her experiences in both private and public land development sectors. This event will be interactive and conversational allowing attendees to engage directly with Lauren to gain valuable insights.

Lauren Antifeau is a dynamic leader with a passion for exploring creative non-market housing solutions. As the overseer of BC Housing’s Provincial Redevelopment portfolio, she plays a pivotal role in transforming aging housing stock into vibrant new rental housing units across the Province.”

Obtained from Freedom of Information, an email that was sent from the UDI to Antifeau’s BC Housing email address:

“Those who have set up [UDI] Member Profiles will also receive our member-only mailers, which will house policy and advocacy updates, building permit reports, and other Member-Only benefits that we’re trying to keep behind the curtain, so to speak.”

Another email:

“Just checking in to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about this, I’m still trying to figure out which portion of BC Housing pays this invoice. Also, because this invoice is now a year overdue, is there a new invoice for this year that has been issued and also needs to be paid? I could try to get both addressed at the same time.”

– UDI Capital Region Director Lauren Antifeau’s email through her BC Housing email address to the UDI Capital Region in regard to sorting out BC Housing’s various payments to the UDI.

When the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, why not get the right hand to sort it out?

By Sasha Izard
Oct 15, 2025

Recap:

Earlier this year, I wrote a 2 part article titled: The mysterious case of BC Housing’s paid memberships in a registered lobbying organization for real estate and development interests the Urban Development Institute (UDI), and how it revealed that a top BC Housing official was pushing for the crown corporation’s membership renewal in the UDI, while they were also simultaneously a UDI director.

You can read Part 1 and Part 2 of that article by clicking the links in the text. I also wrote a number of other articles on this issue, which can be read in the references section at the end of this article.

BC Housing didn’t like my exposés on this issue and launched a quasi-judicial attempt to deny me access to information. This failed miserably and on all counts:

BC Housing Launched a Quasi-Judicial Attempt to Deny me Access to Information. They Failed. – CRD Watch Homepage

That said, there are other ways, information can be denied to a member of the public. I am still being prevented access to information through exorbitant fee charges:

BC Housing estimates charging an outrageous $1768.50 combined, for 3 Freedom of Information Requests to do with basic financial and other information regarding payments to a registered lobbying organization that represents development and real estate interests. – CRD Watch Homepage

BC Housing claims records don’t exist regarding a previous membership in a lobbying organization, but at the same time estimates charging me over $1000 to find information about that membership. – CRD Watch Homepage

Despite that, I still have received a significant amount of information from other Freedom of Information requests.

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How did a UDI Capital Region director simultaneously working for BC Housing, become the primary account holder of BC Housing’s UDI membership?

On March 26, 2025 – I sent the following Freedom of Information request to BC Housing:

I’m submitting an FOI request for all documentation showing how Lauren Antifeau became the primary account admin for BC Housing’s UDI Capital Region membership(s). She was described as such in BC Housing communications as revealed by FOI 30-934.

Date range: Jan 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2024

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I received the FOI response from BC Housing on May 9, 2025.

The following documents show how it took place:

On Jan 17, 2024 the UDI’s Events & Admin Coordinator Emily Donner sent an email to UDI Capital Region Director Lauren Antifeau at her BC Housing email.

“Hi Lauren,

I hope you are doing well. As our first event of the year has opened for registration, I wanted to reach out to you directly to let you know about changes to UDI’s event registration systems.” [Was Antifeau as UDI Capital Region Director not already aware of this information?]

We are slowly migrating all our Members to their organization’s Membership within our new CRM. To enjoy member benefits (discounted event and education rates, member-only communications about policy and advocacy work) all Members will need to complete this profile.

I have sent over an invite to set up your Member Profile within UDI’s new CRM. You are listed as the primary member; once you have set up your profile, you can add or remove your colleagues from our Member List. The Primary Member role is purely administrative, if someone else on your team would better fit this role, please let me know and I can send along an invite and instructions.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Kindly,“

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Antifeau responded to the email 22 minutes later:

“Hi Emily,

Thanks for letting me know about this change. Given how broad BC Housing is, I’m unsure if any of our staff will have the ability to produce a fulsome list of all the possible BCH staff who may want to take advantage of our BCH membership. Just for clarity, when I take a stab at adding as many island-based BCH colleagues to the member list, if I miss a staff member and they go to sign up for a UDI event, would they receive a notification that their name must first be added to the member list before they could successfully register for the event?

Thanks,“

“when I take a stab at adding as many island-based BCH [BC Housing] colleagues to the member list, if I miss a staff member and they go to sign up for a UDI event, would they receive a notification that their name must first be added to the member list before they could successfully register for the event?”

– UDI Capital Region Director/Provincial Director of Redevelopment & Asset Strategies at BC Housing Lauren Antifeau

Yes, you read that correctly, UDI Capital Region Director Antifeau, with her position in BC Housing informed the UDI through her BC Housing email, that she would try adding as many BC Housing colleagues on the island as possible, to the member list of BC Housing’s UDI Capital Region membership, thus providing them BC Housing access to UDI events, (which could be paid for by BC Housing for them to attend those events).

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Donner wrote back to UDI Capital Region Director Antifeau’s BC Housing email address:

“Hi Lauren,

You are correct; those who are not already on your Member List will get a notification saying so. They can then email events@udi.org or myself to be added to the list manually from my end.

One final note to say that those who have completed a Member Porfile will have a small green symbol by their name (you should see it next to yours along with a yellow crown indicating your are the Primary Member for the Region.

BC housing has 3 accounts with us, so you only need to add those who work in our region,

Cheers,

Antifeau responded:

Thanks for letting me know Emily. One final question: can multiple BCH members still remain on UDI’s mailing list to be notified about news and future events? I can’t accept the responsibility to disseminate UDI’s upcoming events to staff and
would prefer that those notifications continue to be sent to BCH’s engagement staff (I believe this would be Adam Terris) so that they can be added to our company newsletters.

Donner replied to the UDI Capital Region Director/BC Housing employee:

Hi Lauren,

Everyone currently listed under your Member List will automatically be sent newsletters and event invites, whether they have completed their Member Profiles or not.

When a BCH employee who has not set up their Member Profile goes to register for an event, they will be notified that they are not yet a Member and to contact our office.

Those who have set up Member Profiles will also receive our member-only mailers, which will house policy and advocacy updates, building permit reports, and other Member-Only benefits that we’re trying to keep behind the curtain, so to speak.

In short, only delete those whom you know to be no longer with BCH. If you’re unsure, resend their Member Invite by clicking the three dots next to their name and allow them to choose their over subscriptions to manage.

Happy to discuss more if new challenges arise.

Antifeau responded:

“Great response, thanks Emily, I have everything I need now. :)”

The following is from a BC Housing email several months later:

The following is an email in the same email chain, from the following month:

“Hi Vanessa – Thank you for your patience. As mentioned in person the other day, Adam Terris in Comms is waiting for information from UDI on who the primary account administrator for BCH is as they’re to liaise with the UDI Membership
Department for individual memberships.

Adam mentioned that the membership budget would come from each department. Comms doesn’t have a budget for membership and his relationship with UDI is purely for sponsorship.

Will update the team once UDI responds.

Thanks”

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This was replied to by the UDI several days later:

“Hi Vanessa,

We heard back from UDI that “Updates to the accounts would be done through [UDI’s] Memberships team and they would be able to walk through the steps with [BCH’s] primary account administrator.”

The BCH’s Primary Member account for each regions are:

UDI Lower Mainland – Kathy Louie
UDI Capital Region – Lauren Antifeau
UDI Okanagan – Tyler Baker

Please connect with Kathy for the request or let me know if there’s anything further I can help with”

This was followed by another email on the subject:

The following invoice appears sequentially in the FOI:

The above invoice may be related to the following communication of the UDI telling BC Housing that it was 120 days beyond its membership payment due date:

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The following email in the fall was related to a different invoice (Note the different invoice numbers).

A document it seems related to that particular membership:

It seems there was confusion regarding a memberships with the UDI by a BC Housing employee that had left the organization.

BC Housing wrote to the UDI:

“Emily – I assume that this is a corporate membership vs an individual one and therefore may be used by other individuals? For future payment, you can certainly use my contact info, however, I am wondering if the new

Director who oversees the Vancouver Island Region should be listed as a contact for upcoming events/meetings”

To sort out the issue of BC Housing’s payments to the UDI, the UDI Capital Region contacted their Director through their BC Housing email address:

“Hi Lauren,

Do you know who I should send invoices to for BC Housing’s Capital Region invoice? I have reached out to a few people over the months, but it is still showing as outstanding, and we are closing in on 365 days

past due. I have it attached here. Perhaps you can forward it where it needs to go?
I appreciate your help!

Emily Donner”

Antifeau responded:

“Hi Emily,

Just checking in to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about this, I’m still trying to figure out which portion of BC Housing pays this invoice. Also, because this invoice is now a year overdue, is there a new invoice for this year that has been issued and also needs to be paid? I could try to get both addressed at the same time.

Thanks”

The UDI replied:

Hi Lauren,

Thanks for looking into this for me and for flagging the most recent invoice as well I have them both attached here; the most recent invoice went to Sarah Smith (ssmith@bchousing.org”

The UDI wrote again:

“Hi Lauren,

I hope you are well!

I’m writing today to see if you were able to connect with the BC Housing AP department regarding the two invoices attached. If I can help in any way, please let me know.”

Antifeau responded:

Hi Emily,

Apologies that this response is reaching you after you’ve already left on holiday – I hope that you’re having a wonderful time! I’ve heard this afternoon that BC Housing paid last year’s invoice in July, here’s a screenshot with the details:

The most recent invoice is with Sarah for processing and payment. If payment is not received by the time you get back from holiday, please let me know and I can look into it.

Best wishes

The UDI replied to their Director at their BC Housing email address:

“Hi Lauren,

Thank you for digging into that for me. I have no record of this cheque coming into our office, but it looks like it was probably sent to the Vancouver office by mistake – my fingers are crossed that our new fancy CRM will allow us to avoid these crosswires in the future!

I have not yet received payment for invoice 433170, however I will connect with our Vancouver office to see if they have (just in case Happy New Year, Lauen!

I look forward to seeing you more in 2024.

Cheers

The UDI wrote to their director again at their BC Housing email address a month later:

Hi Lauren,

I hope you’re doing well! I’m following up on the thread below regarding the payment of UDI Membership Invoice 433170. Were you able to confirm payment was sent?

We have sorted out the 2022 invoice, this
one is from October 3, 2023.

Many thanks,

Later that year in November of 2024, the UDI sent an invoice to their Capital Region Director at their BC Housing email:

BC Housing wrote to the UDI the same day:

Hi Tracey,

Thanks, and apologies it was an older record of a paid invoice I was looking for however we had since located it, thanks.

If this attached new invoice you sent already went to Lauren, then I am sure it is being looked into.

Our address though is: 1701 ‐ 4555 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4V8 Canada
Thanks,
Katja

Katja of BC Housing wrote back to the UDI a week and a half later:

“Hi Tracey,

May I trouble you to please send a copy of the receipt and payment we made for the capital district / Island membership for the invoice for November 2023 ‐ November 2024?

Thank you,
Katja

And then again 6 days after that:

Hi Tracey,

Have you had any luck with a record of payment at all?
Thanks,

Katja

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The FOI response that was drawn on for this article did not include Antifeau’s attempts to get the UDI Capital Region Secondary Associate II membership coded and paid for by BC Housing. Communications about that appeared in other FOIs that I received from BC Housing.

When I sent an FOI request to see the records of the first time that membership was purchased by BC Housing, I received no records in it, despite that I already have an invoice and receipt of proof of payment for that specific membership for 2024-2025.

See below:

In this regard see also:

The mysterious case of BC Housing’s paid memberships in a registered lobbying organization for real estate and development interests the Urban Development Institute (UDI), and how it revealed that a top BC Housing official was pushing for the crown corporation’s membership renewal in the UDI, while they were also simultaneously a UDI director. – CRD Watch Homepage

Part 2: The mysterious case of BC Housing’s paid memberships in a registered lobbying organization for real estate and development interests the Urban Development Institute (UDI), and how it revealed that a top BC Housing official was pushing for the crown corporation’s membership renewal in the UDI, while they were also simultaneously a UDI director. – CRD Watch Homepage

BC Housing claims records don’t exist regarding a previous membership in a lobbying organization, but at the same time estimates charging me over $1000 to find information about that membership. – CRD Watch Homepage

B.C. Crown Corporation SNAFU: The UDI claims that BC Housing owes them money for an invoice that BC Housing can’t find. BC Housing also can’t figure out how it paid the UDI over a thousand dollars to “renew” a specific membership with the lobbying organization, when BC Housing claims it didn’t have that specific membership previously. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) prefers to shut their eyes to the situation. – CRD Watch Homepage

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Who’s Listening | Victoria – Evergreen Terrace Redevelopment | Let’s Talk Housing BC

(Accessed: Oct 20, 2025)

900-unit, multi-storey complexes proposed for BC Housing project in Victoria

Note: it seems that BC Housing also has a Provincial Director of Redevelopment Sheryl Peters. It seems that Antifeau is the Provincial Director of Redevelopment on the island, while Peters is based on the mainland, but this is uncertain. BC Housing is lacking in transparency and does not seem to publicly post a staff directory.

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Antifeau, while working with BC Housing was also serving on the Board of Directors of the UVic Real Estate Club, along with her fellow UDI Directors:

Index of documentation covering the UVic Real Estate Club and development industry influence over it. – CRD Watch Homepage

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Throughout her career at BC Housing, Antifeau was also sitting on the UDI’s backroom committee meetings with City of Victoria staff. UDI and UDI member organization representatives were listed on the right, including Antifeau listed under UDI member BC Housing. The Chair of the meeting on Dec 16, 2024 was the former Chair of the UDI Capital Region.

The following document was obtained through Freedom of Information from the City of Victoria:

The following are other documents from City of Victoria FOIs, that reveal that Antifeau was involved in other UDI-Victoria Liaison Committee Meetings, while at BC Housing.

Note in the above email, Antifeau was listed at TLS Housing Solutions which is a branch of Townline Homes.

TL Housing Solutions is a branch of Townline Homes, the CEO of which Rick Ilich is the current Chair of the UDI in British Columbia.

Antifeau served as Director of Development for Townline prior to her being hired by BC Housing as Provincial Director of Redevelopment

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Conclusion:

After reading through all this FOI material, I asked an elephant in the room question to Google:

What is Conflict of Interest?

This was the result:

Conflict of Interest:

“noun

a situation in which the concerns or aims of two different parties are incompatible.

“the conflict of interest between elected officials and corporate lobbyists”

a situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity.”

TL Housing Solutions is a branch of Townline Homes, the CEO of which Rick Ilich is the current Chair of the UDI in British Columbia.

Oct 25, 2025 screenshot from LinkedIn post by fellow UDI Capital Region Director Mack Carson: Great opportunity to hear from Lauren Antifeau, her previous experiences in the private sector with Townline, and current experiences in the public sector with BC Housing. Come have some breakfast… | Mack Carson

“Great opportunity to hear from Lauren Antifeau, her previous experiences in the private sector with Townline, and current experiences in the public sector with BC Housing. Come have some breakfast and meet with other U40 UDI members at Bear and Joey!”

Oct 16, 2025 screenshot of the UVic Real Estate Club’s Advisory Board (formerly named the UVic Real Estate Club Board of Directors):

Antifeau and Carson (both UDI directors) are both on the board. Justin Filuk and Amanda Neal are former UDI directors. Former UDI Capital Region Executive Director Kathy Whitcher who left that position in 2025, also recently left her position on the UVic Real Estate Club Advisory Board. UDI Director Gary Pooni also left his position on the UVic Real Estate Club Advisory Board this year.

DevTalk: Breaking Ground, Not the Bank | Urban Development Institute (Accessed: Oct 25, 2025)

“An inside look at the BC Builds initiative from the Province” (Note: BC Builds is part of BC Housing. The lead of BC Builds is former Mayor of Victoria Lisa Helps).

Screen capture from website Contactout.com Oct 20, 2025
Lauren Antifeau Email & Phone Number | Provincial Director of Redevelopment – ContactOut

April 2025 Screenshot of Antifeau’s “Volunteer Experience” from LinkedIn: