Forensic audit of BC Housing completed, findings to be released 'as soon as possible'

A forensic audit of BC Housing that the government ordered last year has been completed, though it's unclear when it will be released to the public.

The audit examined the agency's dealings with certain service providers, and followed a separate external review by Ernst and Young that was delivered in 2022.

The Ministry of Housing noted the province has obligations under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act that must be met before the findings are shared publicly, including a duty to give the service providers involved time to respond.

"I believe it's in the public interest for that report to be made public with as little redactions as legally possible," Minister Ravi Kahlon told CTV News on Friday.

"In order to do so, we need to reach out to the entities that potentially may be named in the report to give them an opportunity to have their say, and that's a process we're going to be going over in the next few weeks."

The province aims to have the report released "as soon as possible," Kahlon added.

BC Housing is a Crown corporation that develops, manages and administers subsidized housing in the province. The Ernst and Young review, which was released last June, found "roles, responsibilities and accountabilities of both the government shareholder and BC Housing are unclear."

It concluded there is a risk that oversight policies could contain gaps that "could result in inefficiencies and additional reporting burden on BC Housing."

Premier David Eby, who was then the province's housing minister, announced the dismissal of seven members of the government-appointed BC Housing board days after the Ernst and Young report was released.

Kahlon told CTV News his ministry is already working to address the issues highlighted in that review to help BC Housing "function in a better way."

The government will also be sharing more details on its plans to address the larger housing crisis in the province in the coming weeks, Kahlon said.

With files from The Canadian Press