Capital Planning & Repairs

Capital planning

Capital planning is essential for all non-profit housing societies. A solid plan helps to identify, assess and prioritize capital needs and ensures the viability of your building asset for the long term.

As part of your operating agreement with BC Housing, you are required to create and maintain a short-term capital plan. Though not required, a long-term capital plan is considered a best practice — one that will enable you to support the long-term viability of your building.

• Managing Housing Assets Guide  – Learn about the capital planning process, funding and the phases of a capital renewal project.
• BC Non-Profit Housing Association – Provides capital-planning resources, curriculum and training for non-profit societies. .
• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation –  Has a number of capital-planning resources, including access to free capital-planning software and Excel templates.

Capital projects & repairs

Capital projects begin with an assessment of the building. This includes its overall condition, systems and work to be done. Our team conducts no-cost building condition assessments on all BC Housing and Provincial Rental Housing Corporation-owned properties.

Once we have assessed a project and identified its needs, we rank and enter it into the provincial prioritization database. The database captures requests from all of B.C.'s non-profit and directly-managed social housing providers. We prioritize projects in the database for funding according to need and allocate funding annually.

To learn more, see the Managing Housing Assets Guide .

The first point of contact for repairs is your non-profit portfolio manager. Your manager will consult with you and discuss available options for funding. As a general rule, repairs fall into two categories: minor and major. The information below summarizes how repairs are classified and indicates typical funding options.

Minor repairs (under $10,000)

• Replacement Reserves Fund – This Fund is set up to cover the future replacement costs for items like appliances, flooring, heating, interior structure, paint, driveway paving, roofing, window covers, the exterior structure and more. Check the Standardized list of Replacement Items list to see if the item you need repaired qualifies for replacement reserve funds. You'll also find more information in the Financial Management Guide .
• Annual Operating Budget – Your annual operating budget has funds designated for ongoing maintenance. These monies should be set aside in order to fund any repair under $10,000 that is not covered by the Replacement Reserves Fund.

Major repairs (over $10,000)

The non-profit Capital Renewal Funding (CRF) protects existing social housing by providing funding for capital projects that maintain or benefit a building’s condition or improve a building’s seismic or fire-safety, or energy performance.

Buildings must be owned and operated by a non-profit housing provider or housing co-operative, and the land either owned by the non-profit or under a long-term lease. The building must be under an existing operating agreement with BC Housing.

For further information on accessing funding for your project, please contact your:

Regional non-profit portfolio manager

Expiring Operating Agreements

The Expiring Operating Agreements Guide  helps non-profit housing providers plan to become self-sustaining when their agreements expire. It may also be helpful to local government staff involved in reviewing zoning and development and building permit applications for site redevelopment projects.

Use the Simplified Assessment Tool to help determine the current state of a non-profit housing building.