Vancity provides over $1 million in 2025 to support non-profit housing retrofits in B.C.

In 2025, through its Non-Profit Housing Retrofit Program, Vancity has awarded $1,091,830 in grants to housing co-operatives and non-profits, including Indigenous non-profit housing organizations, to support the planning and implementation of building retrofits that can help keep homes safe, affordable, and climate-resilient for decades to come.

“The climate crisis is already showing up in housing: higher energy costs, more extreme temperatures, and buildings that can’t keep up,” says Wellington Holbrook, President and CEO of Vancity. “Affordable housing shouldn’t be the last to get safer and more resilient. Our goal is to help non-profits and co-ops get the retrofits they need to protect these homes well into the future.”

Non-profit housing providers and co-operatives know what their buildings require, but what’s often missing is the early funding and capacity to plan retrofits properly. Vancity’s Non-Profit Housing Retrofit Program was created to help fill that gap.  

By covering upfront planning and project management costs, such as feasibility studies and energy modelling, the program supports the foundational work needed before retrofits as well as the retrofit projects themselves. The program is also designed to give housing providers the flexibility to use Vancity’s funding strategically, helping them leverage additional funding from other sources and move their projects forward.

Together, this year’s grants will support a range of retrofit projects that will improve comfort, energy efficiency, and climate resilience in non-profit housing across the province:  

- A $600,000 three-year grant to the Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA), an umbrella organization that supports 48 Indigenous housing and service providers across B.C. The grant will support AHMA members in managing their building portfolios and identifying retrofit opportunities across their housing stock, including projects that cut emissions and upgrade homes for climate resilience.

- Two grants totaling $180,000 to Hiy̓ám̓ ta Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Housing Society will help transform three buildings, which together provide 45 affordable homes, into highly efficient, climate-resilient housing while extending the buildings’ lifespans.

- A $117,000 grant to Brightside Community Homes Foundation will fund energy modelling and other retrofit planning, laying the groundwork for climate-ready upgrades to 40 homes.

·  A $99,000 grant to Squamish Community Housing Society will support interior and exterior building upgrades that improve energy performance, tenant comfort, and resilience to extreme temperatures and severe weather.

- An $80,000 grant to Aunt Leah's will support retrofit planning, including technical studies and project management, to identify opportunities to reduce energy use by 70% and carbon emissions by 80% in a 41-unit building serving families and youth aging out of care.

- A $15,830 grant to Westerdale Housing Co-operative will fund additional energy studies to assess the potential for onsite solar energy generation at a housing co-op where more than half of the residents are seniors or people living with a disability. This work is part of a larger retrofit project to shift away from fossil gas, improve energy efficiency, and create more climate-resilient homes.

This funding is part of Vancity’s $5-million commitment – through its Non-Profit Housing Retrofit Program – to support non-profits, co-operatives, and First Nations governments across the province in maintaining and improving their housing stock while transitioning toward low-carbon, climate-resilient buildings.

“As buildings age without upgrades, residents often feel it first through higher bills and more emergency repairs,” says Newsha Siouffi, Chief Strategy Officer at Vancity. “Retrofits are one of the most practical, high-impact ways to protect affordable housing for the long term. When we invest in these upgrades, we’re investing in our communities.”

By helping housing providers cut energy use and lower their carbon footprint, this work also supports Vancity’s goal of bringing the emissions from all its mortgages and loans to net-zero by 2040.

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About Vancity

Vancity is a values-based financial co-operative serving the needs of its 585,000 member-owners and their communities, with offices and more than 60 branches located in Metro Vancouver and Squamish, the Fraser Valley, the Sunshine Coast, the Vancouver and Gulf Islands and Alert Bay, within the territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka'wakw Peoples. With $39.7 billion in assets plus assets under administration, Vancity is one of Canada's largest credit unions. Vancity uses its assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while at the same time helping to develop healthy communities that are socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable.

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