BC Housing's Rental Assistance Program pays a monthly supplement to low-income families with dependent children who rent in the private market.
Applies in: British Columbia
The Rental Assistance Program (RAP) pays a monthly supplement to low-income families with dependent children who rent in the private market in British Columbia. BC Housing runs the program and pays the supplement by direct deposit. There is no single fixed amount: the payment depends on your household income, your household size, and your rent.
RAP is for families. If you are a senior looking for rental help, the separate program is Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters (SAFER), also run by BC Housing, with its own application and its own income limit. This guide covers RAP only and does not mix the two programs.
RAP was designed for working families, and one thing changed on April 1, 2025: BC Housing removed the employment-income requirement. A family that is not receiving income assistance or disability assistance can now qualify without employment income, if the other conditions are met. The conditions on the application form are:
This guide gives no advice on whether you qualify. BC Housing decides that from your application and documents.
BC Housing reimburses a percentage of the difference between 30 percent of your gross household income and your rent, subject to the maximum rent ceilings and maximum benefit amounts. The program calculator on the BC Housing site works out an estimate from your income, household size, and rent. Use it before you apply so you know roughly what to expect.
The assistance is paid only by direct deposit to your bank account. Deposits are made on the last working day of each month. If you do not have a bank account, you will need to open one. The program pays in arrears, so the payment at the end of a month is reimbursement for rent paid for that month. If you are eligible, your assistance is effective the month BC Housing receives your application in its office.
There is one application, form RAP-001. The steps are:
Applications submitted without the required supporting documents can be held for a maximum of 90 days, so send everything at once if you can. For help with the form, phone the Rental Assistance Program at 604-433-2218 or 1-800-257-7756 outside the Lower Mainland.
You must reapply every year. BC Housing sends existing clients a reapplication form about 15 weeks before the subsidy ends, and the annual reapplication can be completed through the BC Housing Citizen Portal. Tell BC Housing immediately if you move or your rent amount changes: if your rent has decreased, contact BC Housing right away to avoid overpayments you will have to repay, and if your rent has increased, your assistance may increase if your rent is below the program maximum rent ceiling.
If you go back on income assistance or disability assistance while receiving RAP, notify BC Housing immediately. Any RAP payments received while on income assistance will be suspended, and overpayments must be repaid.
Applying for RAP does not cancel a subsidized housing application. If you have registered with The Housing Registry, your application there stays active while you receive RAP, and your RAP payments stop once you receive a unit through the registry.
The RAP program page fetched at build time states the calculation method, the direct-deposit rule, and the effective month, but it does not publish the current dollar income limit, the rent ceilings by household size, or the maximum benefit amounts on that page, so this guide states no rent-ceiling or maximum-benefit figures. The $60,000 income limit and the $400-to-$700 average supplement come from BC Housing's April 2025 announcement of the program changes. Check the current limit and your estimate on the BC Housing program calculator before you apply.
The assistance is paid only by direct deposit, so keep your bank information current with BC Housing. If your bank information changes after you apply, submit a new VOID cheque or equivalent to BC Housing, following the bank account information section for attaching supporting documents on the Rental Assistance Program page. A payment sent to a closed or changed account can be delayed until BC Housing has the new information.
It is for low-income families with one or more dependent children who rent in the private market in British Columbia. Your household must pay more than 30 percent of its gross monthly income toward rent, hold less than 100,000 dollars in assets, and have lived in British Columbia for the full 12 months before applying.
BC Housing raised the limit to 60,000 dollars of gross annual household income before taxes, starting April 1, 2025. Before that date the limit was 40,000 dollars. Check the current limit on the BC Housing calculator before you apply, because the limit can change.
No, not since April 1, 2025. BC Housing removed the employment-income requirement on that date. You still cannot receive RAP while you receive income assistance or disability assistance, because those payments already include a shelter component.
BC Housing reimburses a percentage of the difference between 30 percent of your gross household income and your rent, subject to maximum rent ceilings and maximum benefit amounts. The BC Housing program calculator works out an estimate from your income, household size, and rent.
Complete form RAP-001 and send it with your supporting documents through the BC Housing Program Upload Form online, by mail to Rental Assistance Program, BC Housing, 101-4555 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4V8, or by fax to 604-439-4729. Applications sent without the required documents can be held for up to 90 days.
The assistance is paid only by direct deposit to your bank account, on the last working day of each month, in arrears. If you are eligible, the assistance is effective from the month BC Housing receives your application. You must reapply every year to keep receiving it.