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The PHS reported it spent another $358,724 on travel expenses that year, and $398,794 on professional and consulting fees.

The province gave the PHS $18.7-million and the federal government contributed $2.27-million in 2013.

In an email sent Wednesday to the National Post, PHS co-executive director Mark Townsend said he had not spoken to Mr. Coleman, and was “not aware of any allegation of anyone here benefiting at the expense of our clients.” He said he is proud of the society’s work, adding that “all projects and programs are fully audited by our external auditors each year. What we do know is that our lack of administrative systems have left us vulnerable to being misunderstood. We’re doing our best to work through those issues with our funders.”

Jack Bibby, president of the PSA’s board of directors, is away from his workplace for “the next several days,” said his colleague. He did not reply to a message left on his voice mail. Asked if the PHS was being forced into receivership, the board’s secretary-treasurer, Cordell Draayer, said he wanted to comment, but could not.

The case is not without precedent. In 2010, B.C. Housing and the Provincial Rental Housing Corporation filed suit against a smaller non-profit housing society operating in the DTES, accusing it of negligence, financial mismanagement, conflicts of interest, misrepresentations and breaches of fiduciary duty.

The Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) controlled almost 300 publicly owned apartment units in the neighbourhood until a court-appointed receiver manager took charge of the properties. The province and DERA negotiated a confidential out-of-court settlement that ended the lawsuit, and the 37-year-old society was disbanded.

The PHS is much larger and more firmly entrenched, with assets of almost $60-million. According to its public filings to Canada Revenue Agency, the society’s ambitions now reach overseas, with employees spending $90,000 in the last fiscal year on activities abroad. The precise nature of those activities are not described in the filings.

National Post

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