B.C. rental housing plan includes 670 below-market rental units in Metro Vancouver

VANCOUVER — Premier David Eby says the second phase of a housing partnership between the province, Metro Vancouver and non-profit housing providers will deliver up to 670 below-market rental units.

Eby says Phase 2 follows a memorandum of understanding signed last year between the British Columbia government and Metro Vancouver Housing to create 2,000 affordable rental homes over the next decade.

He says the government has also committed to fund a third phase of affordable rental housing units starting in 2028, but the sites have yet to be confirmed.

Phase 2 projects are planned for sites in North Vancouver, the City of Vancouver and two locations in Coquitlam, with the province providing $226 million and Metro Vancouver contributing land and cash worth more than $367 million.

Phase 1, with a government investment of $158 million, includes a Vancouver project currently under construction and slated for completion in 2025 with 87 affordable, market-rent homes.

Eby and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon were announcing details of the scheme at a site on Vancouver’s Westside.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2024.

The Canadian Press