BC Housing
Who We Are
Founded in 1967, BC Housing’s role is to assist British Columbians in greatest need of affordable housing by providing options across the housing system. BC Housing works in partnership with the private, non-profit, and co-operative housing sectors, provincial health authorities and ministries, First Nations, other levels of government, Indigenous peoples, and community groups to deliver affordable housing programs.
In 2023/24, BC Housing will directly assist approximately 123,000 households across the province through a range of programs, initiatives, and partnerships.
A Crown corporation, BC Housing’s strategic direction is guided by the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Housing. Its key responsibilities include implementing programs under the Homes for People Plan, delivering affordable housing through Housing Hub partnerships, providing portable rental assistance to households, supporting relevant ministries and partners to implement complex care housing, and delivering critical programs and services to address homelessness across the province. BC Housing also continues to improve the quality of residential construction and strengthen consumer protection for buyers of new homes through its responsibilities under the Homeowner Protection Act.
BC Housing is committed to addressing systemic discrimination and improving housing outcomes for everyone, particularly equity and rights-seeking communities. This is being advanced through the incorporation of reconciliation, equity, and Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) principles into all the work we do, including our operations and programs. At the same time, BC Housing is transforming its structures, processes, and systems to be more accountable and responsive in meeting the increasingly complex needs of employees, tenants, partners, and communities.
Why We Are Involved
People with disabilities experience countless environmental, social, and attitudinal barriers that hinder their full and equal participation in society. The impact of these barriers becomes particularly clear in housing. Disabled people are more likely to be houseless or live in substandard housing, and then, as a result, experience more severe health impacts that compound the negative impacts.
Because BC Housing knows the impact of ableism and other forms of discrimination, our commitment to addressing oppression is foundational to everything we do.
We know that accessibility will improve the lives not only of the more than 926,000 British Columbians with disabilities, but of all of us.
Accessibility Initiatives
BC Housing’s Accessibility Plan, launching in September 2023, aims to reduce barriers by setting out our goals and by ensuring we are accountable for these commitments.
This initial Accessibility Plan represents our first attempt to gather the work to date and existing commitments into one document. This document will help external stakeholders and departments across the commission t understand our current state and provide a starting point for our work to develop a comprehensive strategic framework for accessibility. It will also centralize implementation and monitoring to ensure that there is accountability in following through on highlighted priorities and actions.
To get to a comprehensive strategic framework for accessibility, this plan will be workshopped with BC Housing stakeholders including tenants, employees, and non-profit housing partners. BC Housing will be developing more opportunities to hear from people with lived experience of accessibility barriers when accessing our programs and services.
In the coming years, each branch of BC Housing will receive support to incorporate the feedback we receive about accessibility priorities and to develop realistic timelines for addressing accessibility barriers.
In Spring 2024, we will publish our more comprehensive BC Housing strategic framework for accessibility which will include more specific, time bound actions for each of the identified Accessibility Realms.
