One of Vancouver's most vocal affordable-housing advocates has called for greater transparency in the city's handling of its $1-billion property endowment fund.

On March 13, Linda Mix fired off a letter to Mayor Sam Sullivan and all councillors following the March 10 official groundbreaking at the Southeast False Creek 2010 Olympic Village site. Mix, chair of the Impact on Community Coalition (IOCC) and former executive director of the Tenants Rights Action Coalition, told the Georgia Straight that she thinks the city has missed an opportunity to create an "inclusive mixed-income neighbourhood" by removing elements of the previous council's development plan.

To allow for extra amenities at Southeast False Creek, including two extra daycares and middle-income housing, the previous COPE- controlled council voted to divert $50 million from the property endowment fund. On March 7, the NPA led council reversed this decision, despite huge support from about 35 speakers in favour of using money from the PEF.

"At the public hearings there was widespread support for dipping into the PEF-dipping in, not gutting it by any means-for the purpose for which it was meant," Mix said. "That is, to build community amenities and benefits for the public good. That would be providing spaces for the child-care and affordable housing, or contributing to those."

The PEF was created in the mid-'70s by former mayor Art Philips and council as a way to consolidate and generate revenue from the city's noncivic property assets-for example, the city-owned parking lot east of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre-and purchase strategic sites for the greater civic good.

According to the city's 2004 annual financial report, the fund raised $32.4 million in income that fiscal year, while spending $32.8 million. The total loss in 2004 was $442,000. Total property assets are estimated to be at $1 billion, according to financial-planning director Ken Bayne.

"The PEF is like a branch of the municipal government, operated in a very different fashion," Bayne told the Straight. "It has an expectation that it will earn a return on its investment. When it spends money, it expects to get something back."

In her March 13 letter to the mayor and council, Mix claimed that the public is "increasingly frustrated that the PEF is viewed by some city staff and certain members of council as a sacred cow that should only be allowed to grow for some far-off future need".

Bayne noted there has been no PEF board since 2002 because the previous COPE controlled council did not appoint any directors. Under earlier NPA-dominated councils, former NPA mayor Philip Owen and former NPA councillors George Puil and Jennifer Clarke sat on the PEF board along with city manager Judy Rogers and finance director Estelle Lo.

In response to Mix's comments on oversight, Bayne stressed that there was never a "decision-making board and it had no authority or power to make any decisions or direct anything".

"They were simply a means that the director of real-estate services and the director of finance could use to discuss issues at the political level," Bayne said.

NPA Coun. Peter Ladner told the Straight on March 14 that he had not read Mix's letter yet, but said he was aware of her concerns. The second-term councillor insisted that income from the PEF is used regularly and that it is not just a fund that piles up in value and does nothing.

"I think if there were an open discussion on how to use the PEF, there would be overwhelming support for using the fund how we have been using it in the past, and that is getting the huge benefits that accrue," Ladner said. "If we had a debate on its own-leaving aside the political grandstanding opportunities that surround Southeast False Creek-while I can't predict, I would be surprised if there was a hotly-divided debate on council. Are we passionate about social housing is one question. Do we think that the PEF should be used in a different way is another question."

What about having councillors sitting on a PEF board now that the NPA has a majority?

"I think there should be [a PEF board]," Ladner added. "We haven't had a formal discussion about it, but I had intended to talk to the city manager and those people about that. It's a big amount of money and it's a big city asset, and there should be some reasonable governance of it."