Creating more homes for people (flickr.com)

Media Contacts

Office of the Premier

Jimmy Smith
Deputy Communications Director
jimmy.smith@gov.bc.ca

Ministry of Housing

Media Relations
236 478-0251

Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship

Media Relations
250 896-7365

Backgrounders

Secondary Suite Incentive Program eligibility criteria for homeowners

The Secondary Suite Incentive Program will provide loans to eligible homeowners for renovations to their existing primary residence for the purpose of creating a new rental suite.

  • Homeowners should meet the following criteria:
    • They must be registered owners of the property;
    • They must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents;
    • They must be living in/on the property as their primary home;
    • They must be having a combined homeowner income not exceeding the 80th income percentile for couples with children in B.C., as determined by BC Housing. This will be set annually;
    • They must have equity in the property that can be leveraged as security for the forgivable loan as a registered mortgage;
    • They must agree to rent the secondary suite at below market rates for at least five years.
       
  • The property must meet the following criteria:
    • It must be an existing single-family home, duplex, or other housing, as permitted by the BC Building Code;
    • It must be located in an eligible incorporated municipality;
    • It must have a value below the BC Home Owner Grant threshold ($2.125 million for 2023). This will be set annually.
       
  • The secondary-suite project must meet the following criteria:
    • It must have obtained all required permits;
    • It must comply with local ordinances related to secondary suites;
    • The completed suite must include self-contained kitchen and full bathroom facilities (including a shower or bath) that are not shared with other units on the property;  
    • Projects to add a third suite to properties with an existing secondary suite may be eligible, provided they comply with all other program eligibility criteria;
    • The secondary suite cannot be rented out by the homeowner to an immediate family member.
       
  • Types of properties that are not eligible for the program:
    • Renovations to recreational properties;
    • Renovations to create suites in properties for the purpose of creating an investment property or to augment an existing investment property are ineligible;
      • For this reason, forgivable loan recipients are required to provide documentation that confirms owner-occupancy as part of the application process and annually during the forgiveness period.
         
  • Geographical reach of SSIP:
    • The pilot will be available across B.C., in all 161 incorporated municipalities.
    • The list of eligible communities will be reviewed annually.

Media Contacts

Ministry of Housing

Media Relations
236 478-0251

Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship

Media Relations
250 896-7365
Province launches Single Housing Application Service to streamline housing approvals

The Province is taking action to address permitting backlogs and working to get more homes built sooner through the launch of the Single Housing Application Service (SHAS), which supports homebuilders applying for provincial permits.

Homebuilding in B.C. can require multiple provincial permits spanning across four natural-resource ministries — Forests, Transportation and Infrastructure, Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and Water Land and Resource Stewardship — with different processes. This includes permits related to road right-of-ways, rezoning, ground contamination, archeology  and development near wetlands and rivers.

The new service identifies which permits are needed for proposed housing projects, provides status updates, and generates new location-based reports.

While the SHAS will improve this process for homebuilders, a web-application model was recently the focus for contaminated sites applications through the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. A new online tool and business process will expedite and enhance a client’s experience through the Site Remediation Services web application, further supporting the work of the B.C. Housing Action Taskforce that continues to prioritize:

  • Indigenous-led projects;
  • projects that include multiple units; and
  • social-housing projects.

The SHAS builds on efforts already underway by the Housing Action Taskforce, which has achieved:

  • processing 65% of all housing-related applications received by March 31 and doing that 49 days faster; 
  • reduced riparian-area assessments from 12-18 months to a new service standard of 90% of applications get reviewed within 30 days of receipt;
  • reduced the contaminated-sites backlog and review time from 12-18 months to an average time of nine months;
  • the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has resolved 90% of municipal housing applications in the Lower Mainland and resolved 49% of files from across the province; and
  • as of the end of Aug. 31, the overall change in timelines for housing applications continues to trend downwards across the four ministries.

The focus on maintaining environmental standards while improving provincial capacity, processes and policy has been critical in achieving these successes. The new SHAS will be available at Permit Connect BC, launched earlier this year to prioritize housing projects and reduce a backlog of outstanding applications.

To learn more, visit: https://permitconnectbc.gov.bc.ca/

Media Contacts

Ministry of Housing

Media Relations
236 478-0251

Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship

Media Relations
250 896-7365