Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
British Columbia is in the grips of a housing affordability crisis decades in the making. The Province has an ambitious plan to tackle the crisis through the largest investment in housing affordability in B.C.’s history. Tasked with building tens of thousands of homes in hundreds of communities is BC Housing, the agency responsible for developing, managing, and administering a wide range of subsidized housing and homelessness services across the province. BC Housing doesn’t do this alone, they work with hundreds of partners. In this podcast, you’ll hear from those tackling the crisis head on.
A home.
It's something we all need.
But for too many, having a safe place
to make a home is out of reach.
The challenges can seem insurmountable.
And yet, each and every day,
people are coming together
to provide safe, quality and affordable
housing for those in need.
Welcome to Let's Talk Housing.
I'm your host, Mita Naidu.
Join us as we listen to
and learn from people in British
Columbia who are creating strong,
inclusive communities
where everyone can thrive.
where everyone can thrive.
Hi and welcome to Let's Talk Housing.
I'm your host, Mita Naidu.
Joining me today is the Minister
of Housing and Municipal Affairs,
Ravi Kahlon and Alison Silgardo
CEO of Senior Services Society of B.C..
Today, we'll be discussing
two important programs that are helping
British Columbians stay housed.
The Rental Assistance Program, or RAP
and the Shelter Aid
for Elderly Renters or SAFER.
We will also chat about how
recent government changes allow
more people to qualify for these benefits.
As we begin,
I'd like to respectfully acknowledge
that I'm recording from the territories
of the Musqueam,
Squamish,
and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
For transparency, this episode is being recorded
in June 2025
and reflects the issues
and priorities of that time.
Minister and Alison,
welcome to Let's Talk Housing.
Thank you.
Thank you for having us.
Let's start with the conversation
with you, Minister Kahlon.
And the basics.
What are RAP and SAFER programs?
Who are they for
and why were they created?
Well, RAP and SAFER programs
actually play
a really critical, important role in our
housing space.
We know that there's often families,
lower income families
who struggle to be able to afford
housing in this crazy environment
that we're living in.
And we know seniors
also are having significant impacts.
Fixed incomes, rising costs.
So these two programs were designed
to support people and families and seniors
to ensure that they can either get housing
or maintain their housing
as they go forward.
And we've seen the need
unfortunately, increase
not only here but across the country.
But we're fortunate in British Columbia
because this program, I think, is
well suited to help a lot of people.
It's quite amazing.
There are some stats here
that I just wanted to touch on quickly.
24,000 seniors are benefiting from SAFER
as of May,
and 3000 families are benefiting from RAP.
But there were some important changes
made to both programs earlier
this year that have contributed to this.
Can you explain what changed
and how these changes kind of been
helping people so far?
Well, the biggest changes are the fact
that we've not only increased
the threshold of how much income
you can have to qualify,
which was something
I think we've been hearing for some time.
But we also significantly increased
the amount of dollars available for,
for seniors in particular,
I think it's 30% increase
for folks
who already are getting SAFER dollars.
So that's a significant improvement,
not only to ensure more people
get access to the program,
but also to ensure that those
that are getting it are getting more,
because we had heard feedback
from people who said, yeah, we get SAFER.
It's great.
It's important, we need it.
But even with that, we're struggling.
So I think those two changes, hopefully
will go a long way to support seniors.
We know there's always more needed.
I'm fully aware of that.
We're aware of that.
But this is definitely, I think, a
positive step in the right direction.
I mean, these programs really do matter
when you hear how they affect people's day
to day lives.
And we'll get to Alison
to tell us a bit about that later.
But when it comes
to rental assistance for families,
why is it important to support
households where different
generations or extended
families live together?
Well, I'm fortunate that I grew up
in an intergenerational family setting.
And I always tell people
that it's the best way to raise kids
and have families be together.
You know, I was raised by my grandparents
because my parents were too busy working
and couldn't really be home
to keep an eye on us troublemakers.
But because I was raised by my
grandparents, I was able to have that
connection to history.
The connection to language,
that connection to
so many important things of
our culture and our communities
that I would never have had if I were just
literally doing it on my own.
And so I think having that kind
of environment is actually a lovely thing.
And so when you look at the changes
we're making around housing, allowing for
multiple units
in a single family home,
that actually leads to opportunities.
But for those that are renting,
we know that it's really challenging
to be able to keep everybody in the house
needing units that are bigger.
So you can have auntie, uncle
or someone live with you.
And so I think having more flexibility
allows for that to happen.
And it's a beautiful thing,
not to mention the food.
Well, it's nice to have food,
although my mom's a fantastic cook,
it was nice to have my grandma's
cooking because grandmas are
just a little bit extra.
Hopefully my mom's not listening to this
because that's a controversial statement.
I mean, I see it with my own mom
who lives with us now.
Yeah, it's always the case.
And kids
are the beneficiaries of it.
Absolutely.
Alison, quickly, we know that
seniors are a big part of our communities,
as we're talking about, as grandparents,
as volunteers, as neighbours.
How does helping seniors stay housed help
the community as a whole?
That has been probably the biggest thing.
And not just seniors
who are directly family
because we've got a lot of first
generation Canadians, but seniors
who have an adopted family
in their new community.
It's tremendous
the impact of them staying housed.
But I think one often mistakes
who are seniors, who's
in that precarious position.
And I do have a couple of examples
to share if that would be helpful,
because when you think of homeless,
you think of a very different...
People are stereotyping it.
So if I may,
I wanted to share a story about Peter,
who is a 60 year
old gentleman who came to us.
He was an immigrant to Canada
30 years ago,
and most of his adult life
he worked in manufacturing,
steady work, modest but reliable income,
and being first generation,
he felt very proud of being
self-sufficient and not asking for help.
He really benefited from being in Canada
and wanted to pride himself
on being independent.
And when the plant he worked at
closed, he lost his sole source of income
and before long, his modest savings were
dwindled, his rent kept
increasing,
and he soon fell behind on payments.
For the first time,
he actually contended with the idea
of being homeless, overwhelmed, ashamed,
and really unsure.
He was directed to us by a community
health worker and through
our SHINE program,
which is a navigation program for seniors
he was connected to SAFER.
With SAFER, Peter's application
got submitted, quickly approved.
He was able to get reliable monthly
supplemental income
and was able to stabilize his current
housing without having an eviction,
and was able to continue
with part time employment
to ensure
that he had a good quality of life.
And his comment to us at the end
when he sent us
a little note was, I didn't even know
programs like SAFER existed, he said.
I was lost and just tell me, he says.
So what to do?
Walk with me step by step.
I might have lost my home.
So he's just one example
of the many people we see who benefit.
And they’re just the average person.
It could be you or me with one situation
in your life creating that challenge,
and that's
who benefits quite often from SAFER.
That's who the senior is.
It's not somebody who we normally think of
and not somebody who would look
for resources
and supports from government.
So being able to access
it is a huge win for them.
Absolutely.
And the ability to not write people off
no matter their age.
I would love to ask you
the same question, Minister,
how does helping seniors stay housed
help the community as a whole?
Well, I appreciate Alison's example
because
it's also an additional group of people
who are maybe too proud to ask for help.
Who struggle, and some of them,
I've had them when...
before I became Minister of Housing,
I had people in my constituency would say,
I'm struggling between this and some of
the medicine that I need to buy.
And when you tell them about SAFER,
then they're like, oh, my God,
I did not even know this existed.
So part of our challenge,
I think, is getting that word out
to people, letting them know
this is available, getting it
accessible to more people.
But those examples
that Alison highlighted,
or the example is actually,
first off, heartwarming
because you want to see people that
get the actual benefit from it,
but also a reminder
that we have still a lot of work
to make sure that people are aware
of the program.
And they know they can contact
BC Housing to get access to it.
So what kind of impact
do you hope to see from these programs
over the next few years?
I'm hoping
that we are able to see more people
being more stable in their housing.
I'm hoping that we're able
to see more families
to be able to live together
and have more security in their housing.
And quite frankly,
I'm just hoping that we're able
to slow the challenge that we're seeing,
which is, unfortunately,
more seniors finding themselves
into homelessness situations.
We're seeing a rapid increase in seniors
who are just
finding themselves not able to keep up
with the cost of things.
And so this program is instrumental.
And hearing Alison's example
and hearing the examples
I've heard from around the province, it's
showing me that
this is the right direction
we need to be heading.
Absolutely.
And for seniors and families
who might be unsure
if they qualify for support,
what would you say to them?
Contact BC Housing.
Contact Alison and the amazing work
that they're doing.
Go to BC Housing website.
You can go to your local MLAs office.
You can go to most not for profits,
because they'll know where
there's access to these programs
and the dollars are available.
And our hope is people
get access to them as quick as possible.
So programs like these are designed
to make a real difference.
And Alison, you've seen that firsthand.
And we've heard that through your example.
From your experience as CEO of Senior
Services Society, can you point to more
feedback, more positive feedback
you've heard from people?
For most of the seniors
that have been able to access SAFER
that meet that criteria, it's
the difference between being homeless
and it's the few hundred dollars
that would make a difference
with them staying in the home
that they've known for 30, 40 years,
or being a homeless or relocating,
and we know for seniors or for anybody,
the home is not just the physical space,
but it is connection
to community, the supports,
the resources that are around them.
So being able to stay in a place
that you're familiar with
and the community supports,
that is a huge plus.
And that's what SAFER offers at this time.
With a lot of non-profits
and affordable housing providers
exiting from their operating agreements
and moving into models
that have more low
end of market units.
And a blend with RGI, rent geared
to income
that allows a lot of seniors
to stay in their home
and allows the landlords
to be able to retain that
particular tenancy
if they can access SAFER.
So it's a win for everybody, the landlord,
the senior, as well as the system.
In newer purpose built rentals
that are coming on the market,
where a developer would like to offer
units to a nonprofit
in the local community,
a senior would not otherwise
be able to access market rental,
but to be able to be part of that group
that they can access SAFER with,
that's just one more opportunity,
because the numbers of seniors
in this group that are at risk of
homelessness is increasing exponentially.
They've increased
five times in the last ten years.
So to be able to keep up with that,
housing options for them is critical.
When seniors have stable housing,
it doesn't just help them, it helps
everyone around them.
As you're saying,
there are systems that benefit.
There's community that benefits.
Alison, your organization helps seniors
through some pretty tough
housing situations.
I have a couple of questions.
How do you make sure they feel supported,
not just with information,
but emotionally too.
I think the work that our team does
is truly incredible.
They are able to come alongside
the seniors in their time of crisis.
On average,
we get about 12 to 14,000 calls a year,
that is of a senior in crisis.
So about 40 calls a day on average.
So our team are really equipped
and we support them
to be able to meet the senior
where they're at and to be patient.
It's like peeling an onion because
the person has to feel comfortable.
They don't want to ask for help.
They're really ashamed most of the time.
So it takes some level of comfort
to be able
to disclose what the challenge
and the need is.
They may be homeless, but the pathways
to homelessness for seniors are so many,
and to be able to disclose that pathway
and to be able to get help for that,
whether it's digital scams or emotional
or financial abuse from family
or just the cost of living,
there are so many ways that seniors
get into a precarious housing situation.
So having a team and a team
that are well-trained and able
to support a senior
at that time of crisis is just critical.
You mentioned aging in place.
For people that don't know what that is,
talk to me about what that is exactly
and how it connects to dignity
and confidence.
So aging in place.
It's such a broad topic and I don't think
we often realize the implications.
You can take it from the physical piece
of a rental unit
or a Strata that was purpose built
maybe 30, 40, 50 years ago even.
Aging in place is just being able
as you age to be able to access every room
in your home, whether it is the washroom
or whether it is the laundry room.
As you age, you may need access
to a mobility vehicle or to a walker,
and some of the doors in older buildings
are not built to accommodate that.
So if you can't access the laundry room
in your building now, all of a sudden
you need home help.
Not because you can't do laundry, but
because you can't get through the door.
And there are simple challenges.
Or if you lived in a co-op, co-op housing
quite often is built in a certain form,
and it's built often
for a particular demographic.
Maybe it's a family demographic
that a person renting to.
And as they age in place,
there are no studios or one bedrooms
in that building that allows a person
to be accommodated in a unit
that fits their family size
in their community.
So quite often a senior is asked to leave
just because there's no unit
in that building
that fits their size of family
because the kids have moved on
and that can be quite disruptive.
The other piece is around access to
and connection to health supports.
Health is governed by regions,
and while there are intentions
that transition
between regions happen, that doesn't happen
very smoothly.
Quite often a senior can,
when they move from one region,
say from Vancouver region to
the Fraser region because it's cheaper
maybe to live there
if their health support don’t transition
and they have a mental health issue
or they have certain critical illnesses,
that becomes a barrier
and we had a recent incident
where a person with income,
with housing transitioned
regions, their mental supports
did not transition with them.
So there's some really tragic consequences
of not being able to age in place
because of the supports
other than the physical home.
And those are just
on the physical side, right?
And there are other supports
with community and connection.
The second example is the story of Mary,
an Indigenous senior,
and she was 67 years old
when she reached out to us.
She had lived in the
Lower Mainland her whole life,
and after
years of caregiving for a family,
Mary lived alone
in a modest rental apartment
and managed on a small pension.
But as rents climbed,
she was beginning to fall behind.
She was very proud, private,
and truly avoided asking
for help, believing there was very little
for somebody like her.
When Mary confided in a friend
at a local cultural centre,
they referred her to senior services
and to our SHINE program.
During her first meeting
with our navigator,
Mary opened up about her financial strain.
The navigator quickly identified
that Mary had not heard of SHELTER,
aid for seniors and the rent supplement
that she had qualified for many years
previously.
When Mary applied for SAFER,
she was able to get it approved
within a few weeks and
was able to receive the much
needed monthly rent support.
Through SHINE, she was also able to access
several other financial entitlements
that helped her access
additional income supports
that were available
particularly to Indigenous seniors.
So she was able to stay housed, regain
her peace of mind, and more importantly,
her sense of dignity.
SAFER helps tremendously with seniors.
Where we've been able to access
or support a senior with SAFER
has been able to walk alongside them
because quite often
when a seniors in crisis,
they are a bit overwhelmed
and they need that person
to be alongside filling in the forms,
getting their documents together.
And that's where the program that
we've been working with for six years,
our SHINE navigation program,
actually has a navigator who's equipped
to navigate systems for seniors
working with a senior
to be able to access the right supports
and where SAFER is the right support,
they're able to expedite that
and help them stabilize.
So it definitely is
something that has been hugely helpful.
Most of the seniors that we work with
are not technology savvy,
so we cannot just give them a web link
and ask them to go and access it.
They need somebody
to help them through that process.
And that's
where the SHINE program comes in.
That's an amazing piece
of this whole puzzle.
And that is ensuring that access to
these programs is made
easy and barrier free for seniors.
It's wonderful.
The current changes to the program
are very helpful.
And I look forward, as the Minister
said, to conversations
on how we may be able to bridge the gaps
that are there.
There always are ways to do better.
And so if there is a way to bridge
some of the gaps
that we've been experiencing,
I look forward to that.
Yeah, I think the impacts are clear
of these two programs
and the amendments that have been made
have been even more helpful.
But like the Minister said,
there's still work to do and we'll do it.
Thank you to our two guests for joining us
today and sharing their insights.
It's clear
that programs like RAP and SAFER
play a vital role in helping British
Columbians, whether it's families working
hard to make ends meet or seniors
trying to stay in their homes as they age.
Yeah, thank you for having me
for this important topic.
And I encourage people to
share this information
with as many people as they can.
We want to see
more people on this program.
And thank you to Alison
and her team, the amazing work they do.
And lastly, a big
thank you to everyone at BC Housing
for the amazing work
you do every single day to help people
when they're in their hardest situations
in their lives.
So look forward to coming back,
if you’ll have me.
We'll have you definitely.
Thank you again.
Thank you.
To our listeners,
if you or someone you know
might benefit from these programs, visit
bchousing.org
to learn more and see if you're eligible
to learn more about BC Housing,
including how to apply for subsidized
housing in British Columbia, visit
www.bchousing.org
You can also find us
on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.
If you enjoyed this episode,
give us a rating.
This will help others find
Let's Talk
Housing and join the conversation.
You can subscribe to Let's Talk
Housing on Apple, Spotify,
or wherever you listen to your podcasts.