New affordable homes open for Upper Nicola Band members

Douglas Lake - Upper Nicola Band - indigenous housing

Aerial view of snow covered landscape with a number of houses located beside a frozen lake

UPPER NICOLA - Upper Nicola Band families, elders and individuals will soon move into 26 new affordable rental homes with the opening of Síyáʔ Place on reserve land.

“We are grateful for our partnership with the Province, through BC Housing, Indigenous Services Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation,” said Chief Dan Manuel, president of Upper Nicola Band Housing Society. “To our members who will be housed in this amazing safe, secure and affordable project, we say: Welcome home.”

Located on Upper Nicola Band land at Lot 142 on Douglas Lake Road, Síyáʔ Place features 12 separate buildings with a mix of one-, two-, four- and five-bedroom homes. Two of the 26 units are fully accessible and nine are adaptable. Síyáʔ (pronounced see-ya) Place addresses community housing needs identified by the Upper Nicola Band and provides a variety of housing types for large intergenerational families, young families, and for seniors who may have changing needs and wish to stay in their homes as they age.

“I am proud to be working with partners like Upper Nicola Band to provide more intergenerational housing options, so people can live where they grew up, close to their community and culture,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Housing. “As the first province to fund on-reserve housing, we’re building thousands of safe, comfortable homes like this in partnership with Indigenous organizations and governments. I look forward to seeing how these new homes will benefit the community.”

Síyáʔ Place has been made possible through a partnership between the Province, through BC Housing, the federal government, through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and the Upper Nicola Band.

“This funding provides concrete support to the Upper Nicola Band and will help to keep people together in their community,” said John Aldag, member of Parliament for Cloverdale-Langley City, on behalf of Sean Fraser, federal Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities. “In partnership with Indigenous partners and provinces and territories, we are working to build homes in First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities from coast to coast.”

The homes will be operated by the Upper Nicola Band Housing Society. Band members will begin moving into their new homes in April 2024.

This project is part of a $19-billion housing investment by the B.C. government. Through the Province’s Building BC: Indigenous Housing Fund (IHF), including these homes in the Nicola Valley, nearly 1,560 homes have opened, are under construction or in development in B.C. since 2018.

Learn More:

To learn about B.C.’s new Homes for People action plan, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023HOUS0019-000436

To learn about the steps the Province is taking to tackle the housing crisis and deliver affordable homes for people in British Columbia, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/housing/

For more information about Government of Canada housing initiatives, visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/manage/housing.html

For information about Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, visit: https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/

A backgrounder follows.

What to know about funding

Funding provided for this project is as follows:
- The Province, through BC Housing, provided approximately $5.9 million to the project through the Building BC: Indigenous Housing Fund (IHF) and will provide approximately $500,000 in annual operating funding.
- The federal government, through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, contributed approximately $2.1 million through the Affordable Housing Fund.
- The Upper Nicola Band contributed land equity valued at $350,000.
To help build homes faster and support existing housing, the Province has committed approximately $1.8 billion over 10 years to build 3,500 homes on and off reserve through the IHF, with 1,500 already open or underway.
The Affordable Housing Fund, previously known as the National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF), is part of the Government of Canada’s National Housing Strategy (NHS), an $82-billion-plus plan to give more Canadians a place to call home.
As of Sept. 30, 2023, the Government of Canada has committed more than $7.5 billion to support the creation of more than 31,589 units and the repair of more than 128,959 units through the Affordable Housing Fund.