Independent Social Housing Inventory

Independent social housing units are an important part of the rental housing stock in Metro Vancouver. Social housing is government-supported rental housing that is affordable to low and moderate-income individuals and families. Some independent social housing is targeted to certain groups such as seniors, Indigenous people, or people with disabilities.

These units are built under federal, federal/provincial, or provincial government programs, and include both public housing and non-profit housing that is owned or operated by a government or non-profit organization.

Independent social housing providers include BC Housing and other non-profit housing providers. BC Housing provides housing for low-income households that is offered at rent-geared-to-income (RGI) rates. Non-profit housing providers usually provide a mix of RGI and low-end-of-market rental housing.

Total independent social housing units across Metro Vancouver in 2024

Key observations

In 2024, there were 35,518 independent social housing units (3.2% of all dwelling units, as in the 2021 Census), including 25,392 BC Housing-supported units. Independent social housing increased by 5.8% since 2022.
Vancouver had nearly half (49.8%) of the region’s independent social housing units and the largest proportion of independent social housing compared to their total number of dwellings (based on 2021 Census).

Independent social housing inventory

Notes

The glossary provides definitions of each technical term, ensuring consistent interpretation.
Jurisdiction and Metro Vancouver totals may not equal the sum of individual values due to rounding, data suppression, or the omission of smaller data points to maintain visual readability. If a geography is not listed or appears missing, the associated data was either unavailable or did not meet reporting thresholds.
This inventory excludes shelter beds, transitional housing, as well as assisted living and supportive housing.
Since 2022, the City of North Vancouver has changed the way it counts independent social housing units. Therefore, the change in the number of units is the result of this and not due to additional units being built.
In Port Coquitlam, some of the non-market rental buildings may have a small number of supportive housing units that the city does not track due to frequent changes.
In Richmond, the total includes 491 City of Richmond Low-End Market Rental units that are owned and operated by non-profit and for-profit organizations.
In White Rock, the number of independent social housing unit value is from June 2022. More recent data is currently unavailable.
Independent social housing does not include shelter beds, transitional housing, assisted living and supportive housing, or rent supplements for the private rental market. Co-operative housing is also typically excluded, except in unique circumstances involving funding and/or housing agreements.

Source
This information is from Metro Vancouver member jurisdictions and BC Housing data.

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