[Briefing Note] Why We Need Subsidized Rent-Geared-to-Income Housing

In 2023, the Provincial Seniors Housing Working Group released the report Aging in Uncertainty: The Growing Housing Crisis for BC Seniors to draw attention to the growing number of seniors experiencing housing precarity. Since the report was released, there have been several positive steps taken to address housing precarity for seniors and low-income people, including increases to the SAFER rental subsidy and strengthening of protections for renters. The Community and Indigenous Housing Funds, initiated in 2018, have also created thousands of new units of subsidized rent-geared-to-income (RGI) housing for people in BC that provide guaranteed affordability where you pay no more than 30% of your income for housing. However, the 2026 Budget decision to cancel the July 2025 Community Housing Fund intake and delay the Indigenous Housing Fund threatens to reverse this positive momentum. This comes at a time when the housing situation remains critical for many low-income

people – including seniors living on fixed incomes.

The Provincial Seniors Housing Working Group prepared the attached briefing note in response to Budget 2026, Budget 2026: Why We Need Subsidized Rent-Geared-to-Income Housing:  

• Seniors’ incomes continue to be outpaced by the rising costs of living and a 70-year old senior relying on government income benefits (Old Age Security/Guaranteed Income Supplement/BC Seniors Supplement) will spend 86% of their monthly income to rent the average 1-bedroom apartment.
• While rental supplements such as Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER) provide some relief for seniors renting in the private market, the subsidy remains out of alignment with actual rental market costs (i.e., subsidy rent ceiling is $1,150 which is far below the $1,685 average rental cost of a 1-bedroom apartment).
• Subsidized RGI housing is a policy solution that guarantees affordability for the lowest income people, but demand far outstrips supply with 13,216 seniors on the waitlist.
• Subsidized RGI housing helps to divert people away from more costly alternatives – the operating cost of a unit of subsidized housing is $33 per day compared to $1,200 for an acute care bed, $314 to incarcerate an offender, and $100 for a homeless shelter bed.