The federal and B.C. governments announced a 10-year housing agreement to invest more than $990 million toward the protection, renewal and expansion of social and community housing, as well as the support of housing repair, construction, and affordability in a new plan under the National Housing Strategy (NHS) called “Homes for BC.”
The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and the Honourable Selina Robinson, British Columbia’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing made the announcement in Vancouver on June 26th.
“The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that every Canadian has a safe and affordable place to call home,” said Duclos. “Long-term, predictable funding for housing has been needed for more than a decade. Today, with the British Columbia government, we have taken a significant step toward our goal of building strong communities where Canadians can prosper and thrive, now and for the future. The federal government, in partnership with British Columbia and other provinces and territories, is working towards a 15% expansion in new affordable housing units and renewing 20% of existing community housing units across the country.”
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 new agreement marks the beginning of a partnership that will be supported by long-term and predictable funding starting April 1, 2019.
“This agreement will help more British Columbians find homes they can afford,” said Robinson. “The new investment from the federal government will build on the $7 billion investment that the Province is making as part of our 30-point housing plan. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Minister Duclos on building the housing that the people in our province need.”
The $991.1 million cost-shared investment is in addition to in $705 million previously planned federal housing investments in British Columbia through the Social Housing Agreement (SHA) over the next 10 years. Aside from new construction, the funds will target the preservation of at least 34,491 existing community housing units in British Columbia.
The NHS is a 10-year, $40-billion plan that aims to remove 530,000 families from housing need across Canada; create 100,000 new housing units, as well as repair and renew more than 300,000 housing units and reduce chronic homelessness by 50 per cent.
More information on the 10-year housing agreement can be found here: news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/bc-government-addressing-housing-affordability-challenges
