The B.C. government plans to offer rental assistance in the form of subsidies to as many as 15,000 low-income families and homeless individuals as part of a new provincial housing strategy.

The strategy, called Housing Matters B.C., is designed to assist B.C. residents in obtaining affordable housing, Housing Minister Rich Coleman said Tuesday in Victoria.

"We are making a huge shift in British Columbia today," Coleman said. "One that starts to say we actually believe in people."

The minister said $40 million in rental aid will be provided annually to working families with an annual income below $20,000. 

"I think it's important that we start to break the back of the affordability of housing for a lot of people in B.C. and I hope it's oversubscribed," Coleman said. "I hope it's massively successful."

The program will give qualified families direct cash payments to help with their rent, instead of making them wait for public housing.

Eligible families can apply for assistance based on their household size, income, rent and location.

As an example, Coleman said a family of five living in the Vancouver area with an annual income of less than $20,000 and a monthly rent of $875 would receive about $110 in subsidies.

Opposition disappointed

NDP Leader Carole James called the new strategy a complete failure.

"I think the public will be very disappointed," she said. "This does nothing to address the issue."

James says rent subsidies may help, but they're just one part of a much bigger picture.

She points to a government discussion paper last year that talks of the need for more than $3,100 a year in supportive housing.

Program inadequate say activists

Some social activists are dismissing the new program as inadequate.

Jean Swanson, spokesperson for the Carnegie Community Action Project, told CBC News that she's appalled by the minister's announcement.

"It was amazing that Coleman actually acknowledged that people in poverty and children are suffering and having poor nutrition and poor educational outcomes because they're poor," she said. "Yet this government is standing by and doing nothing for the very poorest of the children, the ones who are on welfare."

Swanson says people on social assistance are not eligible for the rental assistance program because they already receive shelter allowances.

However, under the government's new strategy, it is promising to spend $10.7 million on building 450 subsidized housing units for the homeless.

Another $13 million will be spent to construct 550 assisted living units annually over the next 35 years.

The strategy also includes an expanded outreach program to assist the homeless with financial support and government housing.

With files from the Canadian Press