Less than a year after applications for B.C.’s Secondary Suites Incentive Program (SSIP) opened, the province’s three-year forgivable loan pilot is shutting down early, officials said.
The announcement Wednesday, March 19 came from Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Ravi Kahlon, citing “uncertain economic conditions and an unpredictable tariff situation with the United States” –– as well as a potential hand-off of interested homeowners to a similar Canada-wide program.
“With the federal government committing to deliver a national secondary-suite program, we are ensuring that we are not duplicating programs,” said Kahlon, “so we can use those funds for other programs that give people more housing options.”
Back in January 2024, the ministry announced SSIP, originally limited only to municipalities, would be expanded to include the Capital Regional District (CRD) and launch on April 17. The program hoped to deliver as many as 1,000 affordable rental units each year by setting up homeowners with forgivable loans for half the cost of creating a new secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit on their property — up to $40,000, according to the ministry, with the agreement that the units would be rented at “below market rates” for a minimum of five years.
Later that year, the federal government announced its intention to launch a similar program that would instead enable homeowners to access low-interest loans up to $80,000 to add an affordable secondary suite; that program has not yet launched.
Locally, a two-year CRD Rural Housing Program Pilot was officially approved for $1 million in funding this month, also providing as much as $40,000 –– up to half the cost of renovations –– to build or bring a homeowner’s existing unit online, in exchange for a commitment to hold to non-market rent levels for at least five years.
The provincial program’s intake will wind down in the coming days, according to the ministry, not accepting any applications after March 30. BC Housing said it would continue to work with approved applications to process committed funds, register forgivable mortgages and carry out loan forgiveness over the coming years.
“All existing pre-approvals and SSIP mortgages will be honoured,” according to a communication from BC Housing to program participants.