More than 1,600 new affordable rental homes are coming to British Columbia, for Indigenous people on and off reserves.

The homes are part of the Building BC: Indigenous Housing Fund (IHF), a $1.7-billion provincial program, administered by BC Housing, to support government’s target of delivering 3,500 homes for Indigenous families, elders, individuals and people with disabilities on and off reserve.

The new homes will include 41 on- and off-reserve projects that will provide 1,662 affordable rental homes. It includes 667 on-reserve homes for First Nations members and 995 off-reserve homes for Indigenous people.

When the IHF was launched in 2018, B.C. became the first and only province in Canada to invest in First Nations’ housing on reserve, a federal jurisdiction. With this latest project selection, more than 3,220 IHF homes are now open or underway throughout B.C., with additional homes for Indigenous people through other Building BC programs, such as the Community Housing Fund and the Supportive Housing Fund.

“With each new home built through the Indigenous Housing Fund, we are taking meaningful action to address the critical need for culturally supportive shelter and foster a lasting vision of community and resilience for First Nations in British Columbia,” said Regional Chief Terry Teegee of the BC Assembly of First Nations.

Through the Indigenous Social Housing Management Agreement, operating agreements with off-reserve Indigenous non-profit housing organizations will be administered by the Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA). AHMA is the first for Indigenous, by Indigenous housing authority established in Canada. Its members manage more than 95 per cent of all Indigenous-housing units located off reserve in B.C.

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