The federal government has provided a $2-billion boost to the B.C. government’s rental-housing construction program.

Ottawa’s investment comes after the B.C. government committed to provide $2 billion of its own in low-cost construction loans and invest $950 million through the new BC Builds program.

The federal government will provide its $2 billion through the Apartment Construction Loan program.

“This will be transformational for thousands of families in British Columbia,” B.C. Premier David Eby said during a news conference held to announce the federal contribution.

The BC Builds program aims to construct 8,000 to 10,000 new homes for the middle class. The federal funding, combined with provincial investment, is designed to facilitate the low-cost loans and fast-track construction on government, non-profit, and community-owned land.

According to the Globe and Mail, the BC Builds program is unique in Canada. The province will provide the construction financing and some other targeted incentives to enable many different groups – including non-profits, Indigenous governments, private developers and church organizations – to build a new kind of more affordable housing in the middle ground.

Under previous models, the Globe reported, a third of the apartments would be rented at welfare rates, a third would be rented at rates equivalent to 30 per cent of household income for those in lower-wage jobs, and a third at close to market rates. Under the BC Builds framework, any group that contributes its own resources on its own, usually land, can receive up to 100% financing for a project and save millions, according to the Globe.

Developers could also receive $225,000 per unit in capital grants in some cases, the Globe reported.

The BC Build program has funded four projects thus far, most recently a 112-unit co-op project in Vancouver’s Yaletown district.