The UBC Housing Action Plan (HAP) is a 30-year strategy for how the University uses the campus lands and financial resources to support student, faculty and staff housing choice and affordability.
The HAP was first adopted in 2012 by the UBC Board of Governors and is reviewed and updated every five years. The ten-year review of the HAP took place from early 2022 through early 2023 and included community and stakeholder engagement, technical work, research, and integration with Campus Vision 2050. On July 25, 2024, the Province of BC adopted an amended Land Use Plan for the UBC Vancouver campus. This enables the University to begin implementing the ideas, policies and strategies developed with the community through the Campus Vision 2050 process, including the updated Housing Action Plan approved by the UBC Board of Governors in December 2023.
The updated HAP focuses on the balance between improving affordability, expanding housing choice and delivering financially sustainable housing initiatives. The key highlights of the updated HAP include:
More Rental Choice
- Increase UBC’s target for future rental housing to up to 40% (from 30%) of new campus neighbourhood development;
- Increase the portion of future below market faculty/staff rental housing to up to 25% (from 20%) and market rental to up to 15% (from 10%);
- Expand and make permanent the Rent-Geared-to-Income (RGI) pilot programs and increase income eligibility limits (implementation to commence in 2025).
Attainable Homeownership
- Commit to innovative projects for affordable on-campus faculty and staff ownership;
- Increase UBC’s Prescribed Interest Rate Loan Program funding to $20M (from $15M) (implementation to commence in 2025).
Student Housing Opportunities
- Increase on-campus student housing to at least 17,300 beds (from 14,000) and identify sites in UBC’s land use plans to go beyond the target;
- To respond to diverse undergraduate, graduate and student family needs, undertake regular Student Housing Demand Studies to inform a continued expansion of the range of student housing unit types, sizes, and choice.
Strategic Initiatives
- Ensure anyone with physical accessibility requirements can live in student housing and neighbourhood rental housing;
- Work with the Province to enable UBC to access external financing to grow student housing and develop on-campus home ownership options.
- Explore donor opportunities to diversify funding support for on-campus housing choice and affordability.
Download the Housing Action Plan 10-Year Update
Questions?
If you have questions, please contact us at employeehousing.help@ubc.ca.