National

B.C. puts $2B in affordable housing loan program

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 15 Apr, 2021 08:39 PM

The B.C. government says it's investing $2 billion in a low-interest loan program for builders of affordable housing.

Housing Minister David Eby says the financing will be provided to private developers and community groups through the province's HousingHub program, a division of BC Housing.

The housing will target projects for renters and buyers with average household incomes of $75,000.

Eby says the loans will be provided at below-market rates and in return, developers will commit to passing the construction savings on to residents through more affordable rents and housing prices.

He says the loans will be repaid once construction is complete, allowing HousingHub to reinvest in more units.

Finance Minister Selina Robinson says the funding is part of Budget 2021, which will be unveiled in full next week.

"For far too long, housing in British Columbia was viewed as a commodity and a tool for building wealth, rather than a basic necessity of a home," said Robinson, who was the housing minister before taking on the finance portfolio.

"The simple truth is, affordable housing is life changing."

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Local restaurants feel squeezed by delivery apps' commission fees

Restaurants struggling to survive during the COVID-19 crisis have turned to take-out and delivery, but the fees charged by food-delivery companies are eating away their bottom line, some operators say. Physical distancing measures have decimated dine-in service, which accounts for most industry revenue, said Mark von Schellwitz, a vice-president of the non-profit Restaurants Canada.

Local restaurants feel squeezed by delivery apps' commission fees

Ottawa helping guide, but not dictating, provincial reopening plans: Trudeau

With Canada's two most populous provinces poised to outline plans for a gradual return to normalcy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Ottawa will help guide, but not dictate, how provinces and territories should start easing restrictions. Ontario and Quebec together account for more than 80 per cent of the country's COVID-19 cases.

Ottawa helping guide, but not dictating, provincial reopening plans: Trudeau

Crisis lines face volunteer, cash crunch even as COVID-19 drives surge in calls

Despite a surge in demand due to COVID-19, many distress centres across Canada are dangerously close to folding thanks to major declines in both volunteers and revenue. Stephanie MacKendrick, CEO of Crisis Services Canada, which runs the only national suicide-specific helpline in Canada, says her organization relies on a network of approximately 100 community distress centres across the country to field calls from people.

Crisis lines face volunteer, cash crunch even as COVID-19 drives surge in calls

Conservatives gear up to grill government in modified return of House of Commons propose and oppose: Tories

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer laid out Monday the numerous lines of inquiry his party intends to follow this week as a modified version of a House of Commons sitting gets underway. They include the state of the nation's emergency supply stockpile, the mishmash of federal economic benefit programs that allow some to fall through the cracks and to what extent the minority Liberals are backstopping provincial efforts to reopen their economies, Scheer said.

Conservatives gear up to grill government in modified return of House of Commons propose and oppose: Tories

Learning to live with COVID-19 requires permanent fixes to vulnerable settings

Canada's chief public health officer warned Monday there is still a lot we don't know about the virus that causes COVID-19, but said stopping this pandemic or preventing a future one will require more than just physical distancing and handwashing. Dr. Theresa Tam said we simply do not know yet whether someone who has had COVID-19 will be immune from getting it again, or how long that immunity will last.

Learning to live with COVID-19 requires permanent fixes to vulnerable settings

B.C. university creates institute to take microscope-telescope view of pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the world at a tipping point that's challenging social, political, economic and environmental structures, says the director of a new academic research institute at British Columbia's Royal Roads University. Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon said Monday the pandemic is an event with the power to cause those structures to fall like dominos or shift radically to new paths.