To address the issue of housing affordability for British Columbians, the Province is curbing speculative demand in B.C.’s housing market and helping build 114,000 affordable market rental, non-profit, supported social housing and owner-purchase housing through partnerships.

The Government of British Columbia is making the largest investment in housing affordability in B.C.’s history — more than $7 billion over 10 years — and is implementing a 30-point housing plan: http://bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2018/homesbc/2018_Homes_For_BC.pdf

As well, the Province is strengthening supports for renters through changes to legislation and by improving rental assistance benefits for low-income seniors and working families.

Housing for low- and middle-income earners, including seniors and families

• $1.9 billion is being invested over 10 years through the Building BC: Community Housing Fund for more than 14,000 new affordable rental homes for low-to moderate-income British Columbians: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0019-000664
  • More than 4,900 of these new homes have been approved in 42 communities: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0081-002184
  • A map of the 42 approved Community Housing Fund projects is available here: https://www.bchousing.org/partner-services/Building-BC/community-housing-fund 
• The Province is building on the $208 million being invested over four years through the Affordable Rental Housing Program for 1,700 new affordable rental homes in communities around the province, announced in September 2017: http://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2017FIN0024-001557

Housing for people experiencing homelessness

• Through the Building BC: Supportive Housing Fund, the Province is investing $1.2 billion over 10 years to build 2,500 new supportive housing units for people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness to get out of tent cities, off the street and on the path to opportunity: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018MAH0106-001524
• The Supportive Housing Fund builds on the $291-million investment for 2,000 modular homes for people who are experiencing homelessness and more than $170 million over three years to provide 24/7 staffing and support services, through the Rapid Response to Homelessness program: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018MAH0098-001472
  • This program is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs throughout the province: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0023-000852
  • Close to 1,300 modular homes are now open in 14 communities throughout the province and the remaining units are in different stages of development.

Helping women and children leaving violence

• To help women and children get out of violent and abusive situations and rebuild their lives, the Building BC: Women’s Transition Housing Fund is investing $734 million over 10 years for 1,500 spaces of transition and second-stage housing: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0034-001019
  • More than 280 of these new spaces have been approved for 12 communities: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0079-002068

Historic investment in housing for Indigenous peoples

• Recognizing the critical housing needs of Indigenous peoples, the Building BC: Indigenous Housing Fund is investing $550 million over 10 years for 1,750 new units of social housing for Indigenous peoples, both on- and off-reserve: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0046-001224
  • More than 1,100 homes in 26 communities have been announced: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018MAH0149-002268

Housing for students

• The BC Student Housing Loan Program, a $450-million student-housing investment, will now allow public post-secondary institutions to borrow directly from the Province to help finance an estimated 5,000 new on-campus student housing units, which previously was not permitted.
  • The provincial government funded an additional 1,165 homes at three post-secondary institutions in 2018 - Thompson Rivers University, the College of New Caledonia and the University of Victoria - representing an 800% increase from 130 student homes funded over the previous 16 years: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0081-002199

Improvements to social housing

• B.C.’s social housing stock needs upgrades to make these homes safer and more energy efficient, while significantly reducing energy costs. The Province is investing $1.1 billion over 10 years through the Capital Renewal Fund to upgrade and improve 50,000 non-profit and provincially-owned public housing units throughout B.C. https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0084-002249

Building partnerships – HousingHub

• Recognizing partnerships are key to addressing the housing crisis, the Province launched the new HousingHub to bring together partners to build new affordable market-rental housing and owner-purchase housing: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0017-000629

Support for renters and landlords

• To help ease pressure on renters, the Province cut the annual allowable rent increase by 2%, limiting it to inflation: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018PREM0072-001870
• To give families and seniors on fixed income a break from rising costs, the Province is providing $116 million over three years to expand eligibility and increase the average benefits under the Rental Assistance Program and Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018MAH0111-001668 
• The Province is taking further action to help British Columbians in the tight rental market by:
  • closing the fixed-term lease loophole: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2017mah0010-001815
  • eliminating the geographic rent increase clause: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2017MAH0021-002036
  • and changing laws to protect renters during renovations and demolitions: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018MAH0033-000618;
• The Province continues to address recommendations of B.C.’s Rental Housing Task Force to improve the rental housing system through increased education, enforcement and coordination with local governments: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019MAH0083-000903
• The Province invested $6.8 million in new funding to the Residential Tenancy Branch to reduce wait times for tenancy disputes and to establish a new compliance unit to take action against landlords and tenants who are repeat or serious offenders: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2017FIN0024-001557
  • The increase in staffing has had positive impacts on service delivery, with notable improvements in wait times over the previous year: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018MAH0142-002228

Helping municipalities and stratas increase rental home supply

• The Province has made legislative changes to empower local governments to zone specifically for rental housing in their communities: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018FIN0019-000724
• The Province has also made a change to the Strata Property Regulation to help the availability of long-term rentals: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018MAH0093-001419
• The Province has proactively adopted building code changes that allow the safe construction of taller wood buildings, so we can deliver the homes that British Columbians need, faster. https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019PREM0024-000383

Stabilizing the market

• To address the housing crisis, the B.C. government is taking action to help stabilize B.C.’s overheated real estate market, including:
  • Introducing the new speculation and vacancy tax to target foreign and domestic speculators who own homes in B.C. but do not pay tax here, turn empty homes into available housing for people and raise revenue that will go to supporting affordable housing: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018FIN0075-002014
  • Increasing the foreign buyers tax to 20% and expanding it to other urban areas to ensure foreign buyers are contributing to society in return for the high quality of life they enjoy when they move to B.C.
  • Cracking down on tax fraud and closing real estate loopholes to make sure people are paying their fair share of taxes, including establishing Canada’s first ever Condo and Strata Assignment Integrity Register to collect comprehensive information on pre-sale condo assignments: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018FIN0081-002123
  • Taking action to end hidden ownership by introducing legislation to establish the first-in-Canada publicly accessible registry on beneficial ownership,  introducing amendments to the Business Corporations Act requiring private companies to hold accurate and up-to-date information about the true owners of their shares and updating the property transfer tax form to require more complete information of beneficial ownership: 
    https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2019FIN0037-000545
    https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018FIN0031-001468
    https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2018FIN0028-001241