B.C. Premier David Eby speaks in Vancouver, on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. The British Columbia government says it will save rental homes and protect tenants from "housing speculators and profiteers" with the creation of a half-a-billion-dollar Rental Protection Fund.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
BURNABY, B.C. – The British Columbia government says it will save rental homes and protect tenants from “housing speculators and profiteers” with the creation of a half-a-billion-dollar Rental Protection Fund.
Premier David Eby says the fund will allow non-profit groups to buy older buildings and protect renters from property speculators.
Eby says in B.C. and across Canada older rental buildings are being purchased by property speculators and large corporations that redevelop the housing, evict the current tenants and either increase the rent or sell the units.
He says the fund is expected to protect thousands of affordable housing units in the province.
Jill Atkey, the CEO of BC Non-Profit Housing Association, says the province is leading the way in addressing a critical gap in housing policy: the erosion of affordability in the private rental market.
Statistics Canada data released in September shows B.C. leads the country with the highest rate of unaffordable homes, due largely to people paying high rents to live in Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2023.
