Affordable and social housing

The Province is committed to making life more affordable for British Columbians and affordable housing in a key focus.

The Province, through BC Housing, works with partners to provide social housing. Social housing is a housing development that government subsidizes and that either government or a non-profit housing partner owns and/or operates.

The provincial government provides rental assistance for low-income working families with children and low-income seniors.

BC Housing is a crown corporation. It reports to the Minister of Housing.

The Province is committed to addressing the housing and support needs of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Through various partnerships and projects, we are working to better understand, respond to and prevent homelessness in B.C. Our goal is to make homelessness rare, brief and a one‑time occurrence.

Making sure there's enough affordable housing in B.C. is a joint responsibility across all levels of government. Here's an overview of what the different levels of government do with respect to housing.

In B.C., some types of non-profit supportive housing may be eligible to be designated as Class 3 Supportive Housing for property assessment purposes. Class 3 properties are assessed at $2 and property taxes are reduced to a nominal amount. There are specific criteria that must be met.

These terms are commonly used to discuss different types of housing and housing affordability options.