Community stream in British Columbia
On this page
- Housing priorities
- Canada-British Columbia Administrative Agreement
- How the Community stream works in British Columbia
- Related links
- News
The Build Communities Strong Fund (BCSF) Community stream provides up-front, predictable long-term funding to help address local infrastructure priorities. The agreements were renewed for a 10-year period, starting in 2024-25. Over the first five years, the Community stream will invest over $1.6 billion in the province of British Columbia to support community growth.
Information for previous years is available at Canada's open portal: Build Communities Strong Fund Community stream Municipal Allocations.
Housing priorities
The Community stream will enable increased housing supply through the following shared housing action priorities, agreed to by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada and the Government of British Columbia for 2024-25 to 2026-27:
- Develop housing needs assessments for all communities in British Columbia, as required and described in BC legislation and guidelines, which satisfy both federal and provincial information requirements;
- Develop provincial housing targets based on evidence of need, aligned with the Homes for People Action Plan;
- Continue work on the national building code to include new prefabricated housing (modular) standards to expedite approvals and exploring the option of single egress buildings up to 8 storeys;
- Continue our partnership on building rental housing on public lands through BC Builds to ensure that we are combining our resources to build rental housing for priority groups;
- Take action against bad faith evictions and protect renters from predatory practices; and,
- Support the adoption of new construction technologies and cost-effective forms of prefabricated components and homes, through research, knowledge dissemination, and government investments, to improve the productivity of the housing construction sector.
Canada-British Columbia Administrative Agreement
The renewal of this agreement ensures that essential infrastructure that supports housing will continue to be built, maintained, and expanded in British Columbia.
How the Community stream works in British Columbia
- Number of communities currently receiving funding: 188
- Funding breakdown:
- BCSF Community stream is delivered by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) through three programs: Community Works Fund (CWF); Strategic Priorities Fund (SPF); and Metro Vancouver Regional Fund (MVRF).
- Local Governments will receive a base allocation of $68,411 through the Community Works Fund (CWF) in the first year of the agreement and indexed amount in subsequent years at the same percentage and at the same time as indexation of the Community stream funding that may be transferred by Canada to UBCM.
- Percentage allocated to each of the programs after base allocation:
- Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD) and member municipalities:
- 5% from CWF
- 95% from MVRF
- Municipalities outside MVRD:
- 75% from CWF
- 25% from SPF
- Regional District outside MVRD:
- 75% from CWF
- 25% for SPF
- Contact information: This Program is managed by the UBCM and can be reached via e-mail at ubcm@ubcm.ca.
Related links
News
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