Thursday December 5, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon today said that economic times are tough across the province and that global economic pressures continue.
“But will hope to see the best possible level of resources for housing in Budget 2025 (coming in March), including SAFER as well as a range of other housing programs including partnerships for affordable housing buildings like the one he announced today in Vancouver,” he said during the media portion of an announcement about a project on Sawmill Crescent (with 337 units for families, seniors and individuals; 220 of the units will be prioritized for Indigenous people).
“This budget is certainly going to be a very challenging budget for the Minister of Finance, for the province. We know now with interest rates going up, we’re seeing a real slowdown in the economy, some have actually even said we’re in a recession right now. And certain people are feeling that as well,” said Kahlon in response to a media question from Island Social Trends.
“We’ll be making our case to the Minister of Finance for a lot of housing-related initiatives,” said Kahlon.
“We know those dollars will help people that are struggling right now. The Premier has said that housing will be one of the priorities and so I expect a lot of housing-related initiatives in the budget,” he said, though of course saying that the Finance Minister will make any final decisions.
SAFER glitches:
Today Kahlon acknowledged today that some instances of clawback are still happening within the Shelter Aid For Elderly Renters (SAFER) program , and that individual cases are reassessed.
“The odd case we get where perhaps the policies that are there are not followed exactly, we do correct them. BC housing has had some cases come forward where they were given some information through a phone line or through a letter. We’re able to quickly address that,” said Kahlon. “That just happens in such a large program.”
“We’re really proud of the changes we made to SAFER. We’ve increased the money. We’ve also increased the availability of the dollars to more people. But we know there are still a lot of seniors that have more needs. We know there needs to be more on the SAFER program in particular,” the housing minister said today, noting in his initial remarks that he’s pleased to be returning to the housing file (he was housing minister from Dec 2022 up to the recent October 2024 provincial election).
“And we’ll be looking to make more expansions in the months and years ahead,” said Kahlon, who in 2024 made structural changes to how support payments are calculated (including increasing the rent threshold and the income threshold).
SAFER provides support to seniors who apply for assistance.
BC Rent Bank support:
The housing ministry also guides funding toward the BC Rent Bank which has received $25 million from the BC Government in 2023 (that includes the $11 million top-up to the BC Rent Bank in February 2024).
Today BC Rent Bank CEO Melissa Giles gave credit to the BC NDP government for supporting the program that helps people avoid eviction.
Giles itemized today that over 2,500 renters in BC were able tot keep their homes in 2023-2024 as a result of the rent bank; that helped people avoid potential costs from eviction and housing loss such as rent hikes, moving and storage. Renters saved an estimated combined total of $16.1 million.
These numbers come from a new report from BC Rent Bank and Vancity Community Foundation.
The BC Rent Bank CEO says that for every dollar spent on the BC Rent Bank produces five dollars in savings.
The program’s role is “to make sure that emergencies don’t turn into tragedies”.
Rent ‘coming down’ in BC:
Kahlon said today that “rent is coming in down in BC” but of course that is just an average that includes new builds, as many in-place renters will likely see an increase of up to 3% (each year tied to CPI) as allowed by provincial legislation.
Rental housing construction:
New reports show three years of historic increases in annual rental starts.
According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 18,741 rentals started construction in BC in the last 12 months – the most rental starts ever in a year and the third consecutive year BC has set a new record high.
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