Oct. 8, 2025 - BC Green Caucus MLA Rob Botterell - Housing is a Human Right скачать в хорошем качестве

Oct. 8, 2025 - BC Green Caucus MLA Rob Botterell - Housing is a Human Right

Honourable Speaker, Treating housing as a commodity has turned homes into a retirement investment for the wealthy---not a right for all British Columbians. This is the legacy of housing policies which have treated housing as something to be speculated on, not lived in. Last month, the Union of BC Municipalities passed a resolution calling for a rights-based approach to housing---something already recognized at the federal level. The cost of living is out of control, and we are nowhere near moving the needle on truly affordable housing. New data shows nearly half of people experiencing homelessness in Metro Vancouver were evicted before losing their homes—a third of which are Indigenous. The Bill 44 roosters are coming home to roost. The government may celebrate that rents have gone down, but you can’t deny the damage has already been done; and as we speak, eviction support services are unavailable — because the Residential Tenancy Branch is on strike! So, through you, Honourable Speaker, to the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs: what is this Minister’s excuse for not declaring housing a human right? Supplemental: Mr. Speaker, For decades, BC’s wealthiest people --- CEOs, presidents, and corporate millionaires -- have been deferring their property taxes on the public dime. They've avoided paying tens of thousands in property taxes each year and borrowing from the taxpayers at a rock-bottom interest rate, effectively earning more than what they owe in interest. This program was meant to help house-rich, cash-poor seniors stay in their homes, not millionaires and their mansions. This province has a record deficit, and this government wants us to think that cutting services and fossil fuels are the only methods to solve it. Instead of fighting for fairness, this government fights its own employees, while letting the wealthy game the system. So, through you Honourable Speaker to the Minister of Finance: at a time of record deficit, when this government is tightening its purse strings for working British Columbians, why is this government allowing multimillionaires a break --- and will the Minister commit to closing this loophole? #bcpoli #housingisahumanright #ubcm