The Social Planning Council of Williams Lake and it’s partners have launched a Rent Bank for the City of Williams Lake.
Anne Burrill, Executive Director of Social Planning Council, said this project is one of the strategies identified in the Thrive Poverty Reduction Plan that was completed last year.
Burrill added that Rent Bank is a really important piece in terms of maintaining housing for people who had a short-term financial crisis and explains how it works.
“The Rent Bank offers a really low cost, no-interest loans to people who are facing eviction because they had some kind of a short-term financial crisis. They lost some work or they had to be off work because they’re sick or they’ve had unexpected financial expenses that have put their housing at risk.
It’s for people on low and moderate-income and what it can do is loan people money to keep them in their housing and they can repay it over a period of time.”
This project is one of the strategies identified in the Thrive Poverty Reduction Plan that the Social Planning Council completed last year and we are excited to be launching this with our partners, the Canadian Mental Health Association Cariboo Chilcotin Branch, and BC Rent Bank.
Applications are available online, and a case manager is available at CMHA Cariboo Chilcotin Branch to with the application.
Information about eligibility and how to apply is available by calling 250-305-4426 or online at
https://cariboo.cmha.bc.ca/williams-lake-rent-bank/
“Maintaining stable housing has always been important”, Burrill said, “and it’s even more critical now because rents are going up rapidly and rental vacancy and availability are very low.”