BC Housing’s out of control spending spree: $82,249 spent in only 3 and a half years, on costs related to a single lobby for real estate and development.

BC Housing’s out of control spending spree: $82,249 spent in only 3 and a half years, on costs related to a single lobby for real estate and development.

By Sasha Izard
Dec 16, 2025

Recently, I wrote the following article about Provincial Crown Corporation BC Housing, which is a paying governmental member (the gift that clearly keeps on giving), of the UDI lobby for corporate interests in real estate and development:

$10,000 a pop, and VIP Tables included: how BC Housing has been funnelling taxpayer money ($62,500 in less than 5 years) into the UDI, a registered lobbying organization for development and real estate, through $10K sponsorship agreements. – CRD Watch Homepage

The article was the result of an FOI response that I received from BC Housing.

Now another FOI response has come in from the Provincial Crown Corporation, this time in regard to FOI request 292-30-9825. The response shows the situation in regards to BC Housing’s frenzied spending on the development/real estate lobby to be much higher, when other costs are looked at.

The response package, despite costing me $210, included only one Excel document consisting of only a handful of pages. Freedom of Information, certainly isn’t free. Yet, as mentioned in the previous article, it seems that BC Housing was charging me for quality, rather than for quantity.

The numbers in the document are damning. In only 3 and a half years, BC Housing employees, racked up a substantial collection of bills regarding the UDI, that cost the taxpayer funded BC Housing, to the tune of $82,249.

Yes, the taxpayer is propping up development lobby lavishness on a vast scale, and the joke is on us, the public. Renewals for $10,000 annual sponsorships, as shown in the previous article, commenced on April Fool’s Day, but this is no April Fool’s joke, this is the reality of the vast transfer of wealth, from those who need it most (those who need truly affordable housing), to a vast system of development and real estate profiteering, heavily subsidized through public expense. This is from only one public institution. There are dozens of branches of government that pay the UDI for similar lavishness.

Kitchen table issues:

After the balance of power almost shifted from the BC NDP last election. The BC NDP changed their narrative to one of focussing on “Kitchen table issues,” while handing themselves hefty raises on the taxpayer that is.

All NDP MLAs receive a new title, and all but one get a raise

New B.C. NDP cabinet to focus on ‘kitchen table’ issues, premier says | CBC News

And that’s the type of fluff reporting we get from the CBC. If you believe the BC NDP have a half thought about kitchen table issues, then there’s a prime track of luxury real estate in downtown Vancouver that some wheeler dealer would love to sell you.

Yet, doublespeak is no stranger to the BC NDP, I would suggest it is their sole modus operandi. Confuse the public, satisfy their corporate overlords and grab what they can for themselves in the process.

I’m not sparing to the other parties either, who won’t in any effective way challenge the NDP’s method of operating, very likely, because they are envious of doing the same thing themselves and are rueful of bucking the system, lest they miss out on their golden government pensions and/or offend their potential future corporate overlords from the same masters.

They are too afraid even to breach the name of the UDI in the legislature, so insipid is the controlled opposition and yes, I’m referring to you too BC Greens.

What I can’t stand above all though is a nauseating combination of brazen hypocrisy based simply on power and holding onto it, which is all that the NDP has come to represent.

The award for the two biggest kissers up to the development and real estate lobby have to go to team Eby/Kahlon, by far.

See: David Eby Before and After: How David Eby’s former criticisms of the political influence of the so-called ‘Condo King’ of Vancouver Bob Rennie, when Eby was a member of the opposition; turned once in power, to Eby becoming Rennie’s political follower. – CRD Watch Homepage

The David Eby Confession: Premier Eby talking to the ‘Condo King’ Bob Rennie, finally spilled the beans in front of the camera, on how UDI lobbying played key role in the creation of the Provincial Housing Bills. – CRD Watch Homepage

“Sold out” event… – CRD Watch Homepage

It’s not just that these development lobby events show the sycophantic NDP rulers as they truly are, each vying to outdo themselves, bowing down to their corporate overlords at UDI events – it’s that the events are filled with government bureaucrats looking for a piece of the action, getting seats at the table using the taxpayer pockets to do so. Add them up and practically any of these events, includes a massive transfer of wealth or lack thereof, from the taxpayer to the development industry’s lobby.

The Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) is a paying member of a registered lobbying organization for real estate and development. – CRD Watch Homepage

Although Kahlon is not housing minister anymore, it’s worth looking at what “kitchen table issues” mean to him.

“Prior to his election as an MLA, Ravi spent seven years in banking, and another six years working with the New Democrat Caucus as Director of Stakeholder Relations. “

MLA: Ravi Kahlon | Legislative Assembly of BC

Just as under Christy Clark previously, a person directing stakeholders relations can be considered the ultimate insider, and when it comes to housing and urban planning, there is no stakeholder like the omnipresent stakeholder the Urban Development Institute.

I was taught that leadership is by example. With that in mind, what does Ravi Kahlon’s table look like in the context of kitchen table issues?

A corporate table for 10 at a UDI Luncheon with Ravi Kahlon Minister of Housing, cost BC Housing (the taxpayer), according to an entry $1,522.50 The end price in the Excel document entry for January shows even higher at $1,709.40, and then there’s an additional $810.80 for the same event entered a week later. Given that the UDI charges $300 for elected officials to be in attendance. Kahlon’s presence may have brought the total price to the taxpayer for just that one table to over $2000.

Entries in the Excel document from the FOI response:

Here is what a UDI table for 10 looks like, from the FOI response covered in the previous article:

Such events are typically held at the austere Hyatt, or Fairmont hotels in Vancouver.

From Pcard (Personal corporate credit card) analyses by month, in the FOI response:

2024:

2023:

The following gifts were provided by the UDI to Kahlon when he was the Housing Minister, according to the BC Lobbyists Registry:

Oh yes, if leadership is by example, when it comes to kitchen table issues for the working person, the BC NDP leadership are clearly at the forefront of austerity.

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The FOI response (292-30-9825):

Summary from Freedom of Information response, Excel Worksheet:

The following is the chart of direct payments made by BC Housing to the UDI from Jan 22 to June 2025:

Full page (Unzoomed version)

The following chart is from the Pcard (Personal Corporate Credit Card used by BC Housing Employees) Analyses of BC Housing’s spending on the UDI by month (Note the name Urban Design Institute is incorrect, it is the Urban Development Institute). The total came to $10,916.40 from Jan 22, June 2025 (just 3 and a half years):

Zoomed version of “PCARD UDI V2 from the FOI response Excel document:

Unzoomed version:

One of the things that caught my eye was a category Taxicabs/Limousines for UDI events. There are a number of these entries in the BC Housing PCard records and the cost to BC Housing for them.

Here are some examples:

Entry:

Zooms of the same entry:

Another entry for a different date:

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