BC Housing: Secondary Suite Incentive Program
I wish I noticed this program sooner, but somehow it slipped through the cracks!
Anyways, this seems like a great program for anyone interested in adding a rental suite to their home.
BC Housing is running a pilot program encouraging homeowners to build secondary suites/laneway homes by offering a FORGIVABLE loan of up to 50% of the renovation costs, up to $40,000!
They’ve dedicated $40-million to this pilot program each year for the next 3-yrs (approximately 1,000 homes/yr).
Applications will be approved on a first come, first serve basis until annual funding is used up.
The requirements for this forgivable loan are as follows:
Registered owner(s) of the property
- Canadian citizens or permanent residents
- Live in the property as their primary home
- Combined gross annual income of all homeowners on title of less than $209,420 (in the previous tax year)
Property
- Located within the approved list of municipalities or regional districts in British Columbia <- Almost everywhere in BC is eligible.
- Have a BC Assessment value below B.C.’s 2.15 million in 2024
Secondary Suite
- A new legal self-contained unit with a kitchen and full bathroom (improvements to existing rental units are not eligible)
- Laneway homes/garden suite are eligible
- Received municipal building permits on or after April 1, 2023
Last, but certainly not least is the Main Requirement
To be considered for this program, the rent charged to your tenant must not exceed the current Rent Affordability Limit for your area, as specified in the table below.
Rental Affordability Limits Table
For more information on this program please check the links below.
If you are interested in this program, now is the time to arrange everything as applications are set to open sometime this spring.