Earlier this year, the provincial government announced the $500 million "BC Rental Protection Fund." This fund will allow non-profit organizations to purchase older rent and co-op buildings.
Many older rental buildings and co-ops have not had proper maintenance over the years and must be brought into a state of good repair. Non-profits applying for that grant must have an asset management plan for these older buildings to get the funding.
Another condition of the funding is that any building purchased cannot be redeveloped or sold for 20 years. However, a non-profit could redevelop a property if it were approved by the funding program and resulted in an increase in affordable rental units.
The Metro Vancouver Regional District, through its wholly-owned, non-profit Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation (MVHC), is looking into using the "BC Rental Protection Fund" to purchase older rental buildings near their existing housing.
MVHC managed 3,400 homes across 49 sites in our region though sadly, there is no MVHC housing in Langley City or the Township of Langley.
MVHC has identified five sites with adjacent old purpose-built rental buildings that they could use the "BC Rental Protection Fund" to acquire.
The Regional District's first step is to submit a pre-qualification to the BC Rental Protection Fund program. It will be interesting to see if MVHC does end up acquiring old purpose-built rental buildings.
I am also interested to see if any non-profits express interest in acquiring older purpose-built rental buildings in Langley City.
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