Days after a forensic audit into BC Housing revealed mismanagement issues, the Crown corporation’s largest housing provider is launching a “third-party” review of its policies and practices.
Atira Women’s Resource Society has established a task force to oversee the review, which will delve into how the organization makes decisions on real estate and deals with potential conflicts of interest.
The task force includes Atira’s board chair and chairs of the society’s finance and governance committees. Work is underway to appoint the independent review team, it said in a Friday news release.
“Atira does critical work each day to protect women and children affected by violence by offering supportive housing and delivering education and advocacy aimed at ending all forms of gendered violence,” said Elva Kim, chair of Atira’s board, in the release.
“This independent review, in addition to the BC Housing investigation, will help ensure we can continue to do the work that serves this community.”
Atira, BC Housing and the provincial government have all come under fire this week after a much-anticipated financial audit of the Crown corporation.
The Ernst and Young report uncovered a conflict of interest connected to Atira CEO Janice Abbott and former BC Housing CEO Shane Ramsay, who are married, and who held the top jobs at the same time.
Global News has reached out to Abbott, Atira’s executive director of operations, and the board for comment on this story.
The audit found that no individual materially benefitted from the conflict of interest, but raised serious questions about the oversight and financial practices of both organizations.
Without BC Housing’s consent or knowledge, for example, Atira used $2 million in restricted, repayable funds to help fund a property purchase, and assigned an operating agreement for a women’s supportive housing program to a credit union as additional security for a mortgage.
It also bypassed BC Housing’s standard approval channels and approached senior members of the Crown corporation directly for funding and other requests multiple times.
Ernst and Young also uncovered “significant risks to public funds” through BC Housing’s operations.
While Ramsay was CEO, it found Atira was awarded contracts without a competitive process, received a substantial increase in funding, and received at least $3 million in COVID-19 funds without appropriate internal approval from the Crown corporation.
It also found BC Housing kept records poorly and delayed financial reviews of Atira. Ramsay had modified meeting minutes to alter concerns raised about an Atira property purchase, as well, and regularly deleted text messages despite habitually conducting BC Housing business through texts, the audit found.
Premier David Eby said earlier this week that BC Housing had taken substantive action to address international management issues and conflict of interest concerns, but Atira had not.
BC Housing has already accepted all 20 recommendations of the Ernst and Young report and is working on an action plan to implement them all by next spring.
Half of the organization’s board was fired last spring after a previous report — also by Ernst and Young — found roles and responsibilities within BC Housing were unclear, project administration processes were largely undocumented, it did not apply a risk-based approach and it had no formalized data governance.
A few months later, a leaked report outlined extensive mismanagement within Atira.
That report by BDO Canada LLP claimed Atira’s board made decisions based on “incorrect, incomplete or misleading information,” applied “inconsistent accounting practices across the portfolio,” and operated on “assumptions that BC Housing will cover any overages” to its budget. BC Housing and Atira initiated the financial review and it was sent to the non-profit organization on Nov. 7, 2018.
In its Friday statement, Atira said it has now returned nearly $2 million in surplus funds for 2020 and 2021 fiscal years, and welcomes the opportunity to discuss the recommendations arising from the Ernst and Young audit, including having a representative of the government on Atira’s board as an observer.
It has also previously welcomed a financial audit, if needed.
In an interview Friday, B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon called the returning of the funds “positive news.”
“But the information is already in the investigation. I don’t believe they need to do another investigation, we need action at this point.”
Atira’s employees, meanwhile, have taken steps to unionize, launching a new website through the BC General Employees’ Union. That post cites concerns that have gone “unheard” and workers having faced the “brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
In an interview with Global News, Kadidja Youssouf, a women’s support worker for Atira, said staff have their “own ideas on how to make our workplace better” both for workers and Atira clients.
“People were kind of afraid to bring up their own ideas,” she explained. “The unionizing will give us space and a voice, collective power, to bring the changes because as frontline workers we know what’s going on.”
Youssouf was unable to share any specific examples of issues, but said unionizing will bring more resources to staff and create a better space for residents of Atira’s housing as well.