Effective immediately, the Province is extending the freeze on rent increases until July 10, 2021, under the powers of the Emergency Program Act and COVID-19 Related Measures Act.

The Province is launching a new set of projects through the Building BC: Community Housing Fund with nearly 540 affordable rental homes on the way for people with low to moderate incomes.

British Columbia’s maximum annual allowable rent increase for 2021 is set at 1.4%, which is less than half of what it would have been prior to changes made by the Province in 2018.

Over 40 new supportive homes are open in New Westminster, providing safe, warm homes with around-the-clock care and supports to help women experiencing homelessness in the community.

The Province, through BC Housing, and the City of Vancouver, the BC Non-Profit Housing Association and the Pembina Institute, are working together to find ways to make homes safer, more energy-efficient and less polluting, while reducing heating costs for residents.

Government is continuing to support cannabis workers and provide greater flexibility in the legal non-medical cannabis industry.

Premier John Horgan has appointed Ravi Kahlon, Parliamentary Secretary for Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, to lead the expansion and use of mass timber in B.C. buildings.

Two new supportive housing buildings will provide more than 100 rooms in Surrey, providing homes for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Shane Simpson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, has issued the following statement regarding tent encampments in Victoria and Vancouver: