At least 95% of MLAs own a home, nearly half have 2nd property
The rate of home ownership and investments in second and third properties among British Columbia’s lawmakers far outpaces B.C. residents generally, giving rise to questions about whether they can address the province’s lack of affordable housing.
Ninety-five per cent of MLAs are homeowners, outpacing the provincial home-ownership rate of 68 per cent.
Of the 83 MLAs who own a home, 42 own a second property. The provincewide rate is 15 per cent, Statistics Canada says.
Thirteen MLAs have an interest in three or more properties either directly or via holding companies, according to disclosures filed with the B.C. Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner.
Since 2015, average B.C. home prices have doubled from about $550,000 to close to $1.1 million, pricing out a significant portion of the population, especially young people.
If B.C. lawmakers have so much skin in the game, could this affect their willingness to change policies to make housing more affordable?
“It’s a totally valid question to ask,” said Stewart Prest, political science professor at Simon Fraser University.
“It is really hard to treat something and act as if something is a crisis, if it is perhaps the best thing that’s ever happened to you financially. It’s just a cognitive dissonance there. So, I think the fact that there are so few in the legislature who can speak firsthand to what it’s like to rent in any kind of situation … it’s just an inability to fully empathize with just how serious the situation is,” said Prest.
MLAs Adrian Dix, Megan Dykeman, Mable Elmore and Ellis Ross are the four members who did not disclose an ownership interest in a primary residence.
Ross is a resident of the Haisla Nation, living on reserve land in his Skeena riding. Ross is also the only B.C. Liberal MLA without a land title, whereas
54 of 57 NDP MLAs own a property. Both Green Party of B.C. members, Adam Olsen and Sonia Furstenau, are homeowners, with Furstenau being among those with three or more properties.
B.C. Housing Minister David Eby was among the few MLAs renting last year, after selling his one-bedroom apartment in downtown Victoria in 2019. However, he told Glacier Media he recently purchased a townhouse in his Point Grey riding where such properties can sell for $1.5 million to $2.5 million.
Eby said up until his purchase, he has experienced renting on and off and has close friends who rent.
“So, I’ve been concerned about the impacts of high home values on the makeup of Vancouver and as housing minister, the makeup of our province; the quality of life of the people who live here and the stress that places people under and the constraint that it places on our growth as a province, for a long time. And I’m going to continue doing that work, regardless of whether or not our family owns or rents.”
Asked whether the high rate of property investments among MLAs could cloud policy decisions, Eby responded: “I think that a party that doesn’t have renters among their membership is going to struggle to understand some of the issues facing renters. That’s not our party. We have renters in cabinet, in the caucus.”
No B.C. Liberal is a renter. Eby said his government is committed to housing affordability.
Measures cited by the NDP include policies designed to curb housing demand, including raising the foreign home buyers tax to 20% and implementing a speculation and vacancy tax on empty properties and families of foreign income earners.
The NDP has yet to fulfil a promise to give all rental households $400 annually — a policy Eby said his government is still going to implement.
B.C. Liberal house leader Todd Stone told Glacier Media it’s a valid question whether there is bias among provincial politicians; however, “it doesn’t mean MLAs can’t walk and chew gum.”
Stone said his party is focused on policies to increase housing supply of all types.
The NDP caucus is “deeply” hypocritical for calling out B.C. Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon for working in the development industry (for Anthem Properties) when its own members are profiting from housing, he said.
Surrey-Fleetwood NDP MLA Jagrup Brar, via Frejno Holdings Ltd., owns the most properties — seven in Prince George.
Murray Rankin, Oak BayGordon Head NDP MLA, owns his residence in Victoria, a recreational property on Saturna Island and two apartments in Victoria, which he rents out.
Another property investor is Green Leader Sonia Furstenau. Furstenau lives in a primary residence at Shawnigan Lake. Furstenau and her spouse own a second home in Mill Bay, valued at $1.35 million. Furstenau’s spouse also owns a home in Victoria valued at $1.5 million.
Furstenau said she and her party are dedicated to improving housing affordability and if that means implementing policies that lower home values, “that’s what’s going to have to happen,” she said.
“And I see, in so many ways, the damage that the overheated housing market is having on communities and people,” said Furstenau, adding her party is particularly concerned with “financialization” of housing via corporate ownership and is “pushing for non-market housing.”
“I was a renter for close to 10 years as a single mother. And so, I also know very well that realm and the anxiety of being a renter in uncertain times.”
Asked what it may mean to have such a high rate of property ownership in the legislature, Furstenau responded: “I think, in a lot of ways, it’s an indication of a lack of socioeconomic diversity that we need to have in here. It’s a lack of representation across age ranges as well.”
Furstenau holds no mortgage on her primary home in Shawnigan Lake, making her among 26 MLAs with clear title.
Premier John Horgan also has no mortgage on his Greater Victoria home and holds a one-third interest in a second property, which he does not claim rental income for.
The politicians’ financial disclosures are intended to address specific conflicts of interests and not broader interests that apply to all of the public, such as housing, according to the Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner