Publication date: Aug 02, 2022 • 24 mins ago • 3 mins read • 22 Comments Shayne Ramsay, CEO of BC Housing, has announced his retirement. Photo by BC Housing

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BC Housing’s chief executive has retired, saying he can no longer fix the myriad problems facing the agency and is worried about his own safety.

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Affordable housing advocates said his announcement was more abrupt than they expected and the next chief executive will face many challenges. In a statement, Shayne Ramsay said “something changed” when he witnessed a murder on the beach near CRAB Park in May and then watched in horror as two homeless workers were murdered last week. Ramsey said the last straw struck last week after he spoke to reporters about a public hearing on proposed social housing in the Kitsilano neighborhood, near the planned Arbutus subway stop. He accused a “small but vocal” group across B.C. which has become “increasingly angrier and increasingly volatile” in their opposition to social housing — while homeless people face dire lives on the streets for lack of adequate shelter.

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“I no longer have confidence that I can solve the complex problems we face.” Ramsay, who is 61, has been with BC Housing for 26 years. His last day will be September 6. BC Housing, the provincial agency that works to address homelessness and the affordability crisis through rental assistance, social housing and other programs, has been in the spotlight a lot lately. “We’ve all noticed that there’s a lot more vitriol in the housing debate these days,” said Thom Armstrong, CEO of the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC. Armstrong said the disputes are happening at a “higher temperature than any of us can remember. And I think Shayne has been on the front lines and he’s been targeted by a lot of people because he’s in charge of the kind of company that’s supposed to be solving the problem. Having a new person in that chair isn’t going to change any of that. That will be the real challenging issue.”

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In May, the NDP government released an 85-page report by accounting firm Ernst & Young that examined BC Housing’s structure and processes as its budget has more than doubled over the past five years. It also appointed a new president and replaced five board members. When calling for the 2021 review of BC Housing, then-Housing Minister David Eby told Postmedia he was thinking of the failed Little Mountain project in which the previous BC Liberal government gave developer Holborn Properties $211 million in interest-free loans to build the market . value of housing and social housing. He said the previous board, which was used by the NDP government, was still using processes that might have been acceptable when its budget was $782 million in 2017-18 under the previous Liberal government.

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Last week, former Vancouver planner Cameron Gray sent Postmedia his assessment of the Ernst & Young report, arguing that “in short, (it’s) not the devastating review that some people think it is.” He pointed out that the report does not examine Little Mountain and observed that “it’s hard not to think that the review is the result of accountants hiring accountants to propose more power to accountants.” Jill Atkey, CEO of the Non-Profit Housing Association of BC, said when there’s rapid growth in any organization, sometimes there’s a period where systems don’t keep up and the audit found that. However, he warned that “sometimes, the answer to that can be that we need someone to come in and be really almost accountant in approach and the fear is that you lose a little bit of that creativity and ability to seize opportunities.”

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Atkey said Ramsay had “flexibility and breadth” and she would not want a new leader to come in without those attributes “because they are undergoing very rapid change in the housing sector. And that will require creativity.” Murray Rankin, the deputy housing minister, said the BC Housing board “will immediately begin work on identifying a new CEO to lead the organization into the future.” Eby, who recently resigned to run for BC NDP leader, said “Shayne is right, our province faces deep and complex housing challenges and there is much more work to be done.” [email protected] [email protected] With a file by Katie De Rosa and Dan Fumano More news, less ads: Our in-depth journalism is made possible by the support of our subscribers. For just $3.50 a week, you can get unlimited, ad-lite access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, the National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

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