Minister claims critical housing report is outdated

Policy group claims B.C. spends least on affordable housing
Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, February 07, 2008

VICTORIA -- A report showing B.C. spends less money per person on affordable housing than any other province is out of date and doesn't count everything the province is doing, Housing Minister Rich Coleman said Wednesday.

The report, released earlier this week by the Wellesley Institute, an Ontario-based policy group, said B.C. spends only $41 per person each year on housing -- well short of the national average of $109 per person, and paltry compared with Saskatchewan's $256.

Coleman, interviewed following a Vancouver meeting of provincial housing ministers, said his ministry's spending has almost tripled in the past 21/2 years and that the report hasn't caught up with reality.

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