A rental apartment building in North Kamloops has been purchased by a non-profit which intends to preserve long-term rent affordability for tenants living in the property’s 25 units.

Lindsay Lord, CEO for Connective Support Society, Thompson-Okanagan region, said thanks to a “significant financial contribution” from B.C.’s Rental Protection Fund, the non-profit will be able to secure Riverside Gardens as an affordable rental building for the next 20 years.

“We’re certainly feeling really proud that we have been able to protect and preserve affordable housing — and really important housing that people have been living in for some time,” Lord said.

Dozens of people, including building tenants, provincial housing minister Ravi Kahlon and members of Kamloops council, attended an event held Wednesday to announce the building’s purchase.

The property, which cost $4.4 million, is located at 139 Tranquille Rd., and includes a mix of studio, one bedroom and two-bedroom units.

The Rental Protection Fund provided $2.8 million for the property purchase, and $230,000 to fund building improvements that ensures the building remains in good condition. It's the first time this program has been extended into Kamloops.

Lord said 45 per cent of the people living in the building have been there for more than five years. One tenant in particular has lived at Riverside Gardens since 1996. She noted several people living in the building have pets.

On average, a studio apartment at the building is rented out for $800 per month, while a two-bedroom unit costs a little more than $1,200 per month.

Katie Maslechko, CEO of the B.C. Rental Protection Fund, said the goal is to ensure tenants can continue to pay the rents they’ve been paying.

“Many of them have lived here decades at this point, and so it's about ensuring that the affordability they currently have is what remains in place,” Maslechko said.

The B.C. Rental Protection Fund, established by the province in 2023, provides one-time capital contributions to non-profit housing organizations to buy existing affordable rental buildings and co-ops. The intent is to safeguard units for long-term, affordable housing.

Maslechko said non-profits that acquire buildings are held to Residential Tenancy Act standards including for rent increases, and must work with the Rental Protection Fund to develop a strategy for how they maintain the building and the rent.

Lord said Connective will only be increasing rent in adherence with provincial regulations, even at increments lower than those rates.

She said upon purchasing the building, the non-profit did some work to make sure fire systems and other building elements were updated. She said there’s a plan in place for future improvements.

“We actually went through a significant amount of due diligence prior to purchase, which was part of the fund’s requirements, was to make sure that we knew exactly what this building was going to need, one, three, five years out,” Lord said.

While this program is new to Kamloops, Maslechko said over the past year, the B.C. Rental Protection Fund has been able to secure more than 1,500 units across the province — 35 different buildings in 22 communities.

She noted this program benefits renters who are often “left behind” by traditional housing models, and said they have plans to expand further into the B.C. Interior.

“Housing security should be for everyone, not just those who can afford to buy a home, but for renters alike,” Maslechko said.

Kahlon told reporters that more than 50 per cent of all rental buildings sold last year were bought by the B.C. Rental Protection Fund.

“That is remarkable, I think, for B.C. It's remarkable for this country — and it's not a surprise that the federal government now wants to create a national program modelled off of this, and I certainly hope the B.C.’s Rental Protection Fund is leading voice at that table,” he said.