Portland Hotel Society surviving spending scandal but big financial risks remain

published on February 4, 2015 by Sam Cooper, in The Province

A year ago the PHS Community Services Society, a sprawling non-profit known worldwide for providing housing, clean needles and compassion to Vancouver’s addicts, nearly overdosed on bad spending.

Since then, the society has significantly increased its spending and holdings in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and big financial risks remain.

The society now has $18-million in debt and $70-million of land and buildings in the DTES. But Ted Bruce, the veteran public health official who took over the society, believes the non-profit will survive, and continue to run its controversial supervised injection site.

Started in 1996 with assets of just $2,400, PHS rapidly gained government contracts for harm reduction services in the DTES. It was credited for having passionate employees dedicated to a small and innovative management team.

But in early 2014 senior managers were forced to resign after several explosive audits uncovered hundreds of thousands spent on luxurious travel, limos, spas, family vacations, and gifts. There were also questions about a land deal that appeared to bolster the society’s balance sheet, and a web of “social venture” companies owned by employees that auditors believed “present an elevated risk of fraud, corruption and abuse.”

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BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS

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Portland Hotel Society surviving spending scandal but big financial risks remain

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