In 2004, B.C. became the first province in Canada to transfer the management of Aboriginal social housing to the Aboriginal community, when 189 units of provincial Aboriginal housing was transferred to the Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA). Read the announcement.

Then in 2006 the federal government signed the Canada - BC Social Housing Agreement to transfer the administration of more than 51,000 federally-funded social housing units to the province. The transfer included about 2,660 off-reserve Aboriginal social housing units, which have been held in trust with the goal of transferring administration of these units to AHMA. Since then, over 1,000 units have been transferred to AHMA.

The Rural Native Housing Program, a federal government program established in 1974 and transferred to BC Housing in 2006, includes more than 500 houses scattered in small communities around the province.

BC Housing is beginning the transfer of the Rural Native Housing portfolio through a Request for Pre-Qualification (RFPQ) to transfer properties located on Vancouver Island. This is the first step in a phased-in approach for the future transfer of the entire rural native housing stock on a regional basis.