Social Housing

Frequently Asked Questions

Social Housing is for low-income households who require ongoing subsidies to reduce shelter costs. Generally, social housing is administered by non-profit groups (i.e., management bodies). This section includes information on our existing housing programs. Go to Management Bodies Search for contacts to all the management bodies that administer social (subsidized) housing under our existing programs.

• Community Housing Program
• Rent Supplement Program
• Private Non-Profit Housing Program
• Rural and Native Housing Program
• Housing Registries
• Seniors Lodge Program
• Special Purpose Housing Program

As of March 31, 2003, there were over 17,000 family and special purpose housing units subsidized by the provincial government. The federal government shares the subsidy costs on most of these units. In most cases, the subsidies allow the occupants to pay a reduced rent based on 30% of their adjusted family income.

There are a number of issues regarding the administration of the existing social housing portfolio that need to be addressed including empowering local communities to be responsible for local decision-making and developing solutions; allowing unsuitable housing units to be sold so funds can be reinvested into new social housing; introducing measures to make tenure in social housing more transitional; introducing operating policies that minimize overlap between government programs; and determining the future of the Rural and Remote Housing Program.

The province is consulting with municipalities to:

• Develop an overall consolidated housing plan whereby municipalities would assess their housing needs to determine whether the existing housing stock meets the community’s current and future needs;
• Explore the transfer of administration for social housing to municipalities;
• Develop a process to negotiate transfer of title to municipalities, if they wish to assume this responsibility;
• Develop a new funding model to provide the operational support and ongoing maintenance of facilities; and
• Review existing housing to determine how it could be re-profiled to better meet the needs in the community.