More rental housing project sites under BC Builds announced

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Another eight rental housing project sites have been identified by the provincial government to be fast-tracked under the new BC Builds program of building new housing for middle-income families.

This includes three properties in eastern Metro Vancouver, specifically in the Township of Langley.

All eight properties have been pre-zoned for higher-density residential uses. The provincial government is now facilitating the process of securing partners — non-profit and private developers or First Nations — to work with the various landowners to achieve rental housing on these publicly owned properties. Some landowners are seeking proposals from developers and housing operators to enter into a long-term land lease, build, own, and operate agreement.

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BC Builds targets under-utilized/vacant properties owned by levels of government, non-profit and community organizations, universities, and/or First Nations. After a developer and housing operator are selected, the planning timeline for the project is accelerated to begin construction in 12 to 18 months — instead of the typical three to five years.

Projects under BC Builds will also receive financial support from the provincial and federal governments.

“Our communities and our economy depend on middle-income people like teachers, nurses and construction workers, and they depend on being able to find a decent place to live within their budget,” said Premier David Eby in a statement today. “By bringing together public landowners and housing developers and operators through BC Builds, we are transforming underused public land throughout the province into thousands of lower-cost, middle-income rental homes.”

The eight additional housing development opportunities announced today are:

City of Kamloops, 377 Tranquille Road
City of Kelowna, 1428 St. Paul Street
District of Elkford, 421 Boivin Road
District of Sooke, 6671 Wadams Way
Municipality of North Cowichan, 9800 Willow Street (Chemainus)
Township of Langley, 20230-72B Avenue
Township of Langley, 27200 Block of Fraser Highway
Township of Langley, 7883-199 Street

This adds to the first four projects announced earlier this year in North Vancouver, Duncan, Gibsons, and Vancouver.

The entire BC Builds program aims to catalyze between 8,000 and 10,000 new rental homes for middle-income individuals and families over the next five years. The provincial government is backing BC Builds with nearly $3 billion in financial support, including $2 billion in low-cost repayable financing and $950 million in direct non-repayable funding, as well as an additional $2 billion in low-cost repayable financing from the federal government.

“We’re dealing with a housing crisis and governments must play an active role together with non-profits and the private sector to build as much housing as possible,” said Ravi Kahlon, BC Minister of Housing.

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