Darryl Schmidt

Dan Hines

BC Greens announced a $500 million program for Renters Support.
43% of renters in BC (about 250,000 people) spend over 30% of their income on rent.
This is having significant adverse effects on peoples’ mental health and wellbeing and makes it more difficult to save and plan for the future.
Despite some progress to cool the housing market, we need to do more to support people who rent their homes.
The B.C. Greens’ rental support program would:
Target low and moderate income earners who are paying more than is affordable on their rent.
Close the gap between affordable rent and what renters are actually paying.
Be a means-tested grant that applies to low and moderate income earners who are paying more than 30% of their income in rent.
(The B.C. Greens’ program differs from the B.C. NDP’s $400 rental rebate because it is a means-tested support for low- and moderate-income households paying too much in rent.)

Thomas Martin

I think Dan covered most of it (see his answer for our support towards renters).

Sadie Hunter

In Kamloops, the BC NDP have invested over $9M to build affordable housing for seniors, persons with disabilities, indigenous elders & youth and people with mental health issues. We've also enhanced rental subsidy benefits for low-income families and seniors by increasing the maximum rent ceilings.

After housing prices skyrocketed under the BC Liberals, John Horgan brought in a speculation tax. Now, 11,000 previously empty condos are being used for long-term rentals. After the BC Liberals let rents increase beyond the cost of living, John capped rent hikes at inflation. Saving renters over $300 on average. When the pandemic hit, he banned evictions and stopped rent increases.

The BC NDP has made progress, but there are still a lot of people struggling. We need to keep helping them. That’s why the BC NDP is committed to extended the rent freeze until the end of 2021 and passing legislation to cap increases at inflation after that. We will also provide a renter’s rebate of $400 a year for households earning up to $80,000 a year.

These commitments will help renters get through the pandemic and put more money back in their pockets as we build an economic recovery for everyone.

Anna Thomas

The NDP's Homes for BC plan--with a budgeted investment of $300 million over 3 years--will help make accommodation more affordable for British Columbians. Here are some details:
And here’s where our Homes For BC plan will
take us in the next few years:
• Freezing rents to the end of 2021 and capping increases after that: To make life more affordable for renters – particularly during the hardship caused by COVID-19 – we will freeze rents until the end of 2021. After that, the action we took to limit rent increases to the rate of inflation will be made permanent.
• Providing a renter’s rebate:
We will bring in an income-tested renter’s rebate of $400 a year for households earning up to $80,000 annually that are not already receiving other rental support.
• Reducing construction costs to make homes
more affordable:
By bringing down costs for developers, we can bring down the cost of housing for people. We’ll streamline and modernize housing construction by eliminating outdated parking minimums in projects close to
public transit, develop a single-window provincial permitting process, and work with communities
to streamline approval processes at the local level.
• Controlling the rising cost of strata insurance:
We’ve begun tackling this problem already by closing loopholes in strata insurance and beefing up regulatory powers – and tasked the BC Financial Services Authority to investigate and find new ways to help bring insurance costs down. If rates have not corrected by the end of 2021, we will develop a public strata insurance option, similar to Saskatchewan.
• Continuing to deliver a steady supply of new affordable homes:
For years, when housing related revenues were soaring, BC Liberal government investments in affordable public housing fell short. The resulting lack of affordable housing has hurt people, communities, and our
economy. Our government has started to turn that around, with more than 25,000 affordable homes – including co-op housing – complete or underway across the province in just three years. But there is more work to do. At stake in this election is our 10-year housing plan, and the 114,000 new, affordable housing it’s bringing to tens of thousands of British Columbians. We will continue rolling out our Homes For BC plan, the largest investment in affordable housing in our province’s history.
• Providing more homes for Indigenous people
in BC : We will deliver the remaining units in our $550 million commitment to building 1,750 new
homes, both on- and off-reserve – and pressure the federal government to do its share in providing urgent housing for Indigenous people.
• Getting more affordable housing built through Housing Hub partnerships:
Through the Housing Hub we launched in 2018, we’ll provide additional low-interest loans to add tens of thousands more homes for middle-income families. We’ll expand the role of this innovative team to partner with non-profit and co-op housing providers to acquire and preserve existing rental housing.
We’ll also instruct the Housing Hub to look for new pathways to home ownership through rent-to-
own or other equity-building programs.
• Building more supportive housing:
With 2,800 units of supportive housing already built in just a few years, we’ll increase that total to at least
5,000 units through our 10-year Homes For BC plan – helping to curb existing encampments and
prevent new encampments from being created. Kamloops has benefited from this investment with new supportive housing under construction on St. Paul Street.
• New rent supplements for people moving on from supportive housing:
We will provide rent supplements for residents of supportive housing who are ready to move on to independent living – freeing up space in existing supportive housing.

Anna Thomas

The NDP's Homes for BC plan--with a budgeted investment of $300 million over 3 years--will help make accommodation more affordable for British Columbians. Here are some details:

• Freezing rents to the end of 2021 and capping increases after that: To make life more affordable for renters – particularly during the hardship caused by COVID-19 – we will freeze rents until the end of 2021. After that, the action we took to limit rent increases to the rate of inflation will be made permanent.
• Providing a renter’s rebate:
We will bring in an income-tested renter’s rebate of $400 a year for households earning up to $80,000 annually that are not already receiving other rental support.
• Reducing construction costs to make homes
more affordable:
By bringing down costs for developers, we can bring down the cost of housing for people. We’ll streamline and modernize housing construction by eliminating outdated parking minimums in projects close to
public transit, develop a single-window provincial permitting process, and work with communities
to streamline approval processes at the local level.
• Controlling the rising cost of strata insurance:
We’ve begun tackling this problem already by closing loopholes in strata insurance and beefing up regulatory powers – and tasked the BC Financial Services Authority to investigate and find new ways to help bring insurance costs down. If rates have not corrected by the end of 2021, we will develop a public strata insurance option, similar to Saskatchewan.
• Continuing to deliver a steady supply of new affordable homes:
For years, when housing related revenues were soaring, BC Liberal government investments in affordable public housing fell short. The resulting lack of affordable housing has hurt people, communities, and our
economy. Our government has started to turn that around, with more than 25,000 affordable homes – including co-op housing – complete or underway across the province in just three years. But there is more work to do. At stake in this election is our 10-year housing plan, and the 114,000 new, affordable housing it’s bringing to tens of thousands of British Columbians. We will continue rolling out our Homes For BC plan, the largest investment in affordable housing in our province’s history.
• Providing more homes for Indigenous people
in BC : We will deliver the remaining units in our $550 million commitment to building 1,750 new
homes, both on- and off-reserve – and pressure the federal government to do its share in providing urgent housing for Indigenous people.
• Getting more affordable housing built through Housing Hub partnerships:
Through the Housing Hub we launched in 2018, we’ll provide additional low-interest loans to add tens of thousands more homes for middle-income families. We’ll expand the role of this innovative team to partner with non-profit and co-op housing providers to acquire and preserve existing rental housing.
We’ll also instruct the Housing Hub to look for new pathways to home ownership through rent-to-
own or other equity-building programs.
• Building more supportive housing:
With 2,800 units of supportive housing already built in just a few years, we’ll increase that total to at least
5,000 units through our 10-year Homes For BC plan – helping to curb existing encampments and
prevent new encampments from being created. Kamloops has benefited from this investment with new supportive housing under construction on St. Paul Street.
• New rent supplements for people moving on from supportive housing:
We will provide rent supplements for residents of supportive housing who are ready to move on to independent living – freeing up space in existing supportive housing.