The B.C. government plans to finance the purchases of 2,600 new homes in a future strata leasehold multi-residential project in Vancouver.

At a news conference Thursday, Premier David Eby estimated that the province will invest $670 million in the “attainable housing initiative.”

The program is geared largely toward first-time home buyers and people who have difficulty purchasing a home. If all goes according to plan, each buyer will pay 60% of a unit’s market price, while the province covers the remaining 40%.

That 40% would be repaid through a 25-year mortgage or if the owner sells the unit beforehand.

The units are to be situated in a multi-building development located on Heather Street between West 33rd Avenue and West 37th Avenue. Eby said the project will enable thousands of middle-class members to enter the housing market. The 60-40 financing arrangement will only apply to a unit’s initial purchase.

The province is partnering with the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, which are slated to provide what are known as the Heather Lands under a 99-year lease. MST Development Corporation, a local joint-venture owned by the three First Nations, will develop the project.

“It’s truly innovative and a uniquely Indigenous approach to development,” said Wilson Williams, a Squamish Nation spokesman and councillor, during the news conference at the development site.

“We’re opening up our lands to support the culture and economic sustainability of our people, but also to help provide housing in a city that is desperate for more.”

The city is also partnering on the project. Council approved the site’s rezoning in 2022.

Mayor Ken Sim said a “complete community” will be built. Plans calls for a school, offices, 74 childcare spaces, retail units, a cultural centre, park and open space, he added.

The province sought to launch the financing program before the writ is dropped for the upcoming October provincial election, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said in an interview with Connect Canada CRE following the news conference.

Related provincial legislation must still be passed after the election. Construction is slated to begin in the spring.

The government plans to expand the financing program across the province. Several housing types could be funded, and the province will attempt to partner with different organizations, Kahlon told Connect.