$4.2 billion over the next three years will go toward building thousands of new homes for renters, people with middle incomes, Indigenous peoples and students.
In the budget, the British Columbia government has allocated $394 million in funding towards purchasing lands along major public transit corridors for the construction of affordable and market housing buildings, as part of its housing plan.
The investment, spread over three years, will help buy land for thousands of new homes near future transit development projects, such as near the future SkyTrain stations of the Millennium Line Broadway Extension and the Expo Line Surrey-Langley Extension.
This move follows the province’s change in the BC Transportation Financing Authority’s powers last year, which allowed it to purchase land for housing development. The provincial government is spending $4.2 billion in housing-related expenditures over the next three fiscal years, including $1.97 billion in capital investments related to housing and reducing homelessness between 2023 and 2026.