Federal, B.C. governments ink 10-year housing agreement

Social housing initiative for families and vulnerable persons launched

By Ephraim Vecina

28 Jun. 2018

Earlier this week, the Canadian and British Columbian governments signed an agreement that aims to improve the supply of affordable housing in the province.

The agreement, which is meant to focus on the social housing needs of families and vulnerable persons, will see the federal and provincial governments share the costs of creating new units as well as maintaining and repairing existing ones.

The 10-year program will invest more than $990 million in preserving, renewing, and expanding social and community housing. Long-term and predictable funding is slated to begin on April 1, 2019.

“The governments of Canada and British Columbia will also work together on the design and implementation of a new Canada Housing Benefit for the province, to provide affordability support directly to families and individuals in housing need,” the governments’ news release stated.

This week’s agreement is part of the far-reaching National Housing Strategy, which will see $40 billion invested in the next 10 years to address the pressing concerns of approximately 530,000 families in greatest housing need nationwide. The Strategy also mandates the construction of 100,000 new housing units across Canada, along with the repair and renewal of over 300,000 units.