BC has expanded Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) eligibility for people affected by flooding and landslides from Nov. 14 to Dec. 2, 2021, and now includes British Columbians in the northwest, southwest, central, and southeast areas of the province and on Vancouver Island.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

VICTORIA – BC has expanded Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) eligibility for people affected by flooding and landslides from Nov. 14 to Dec. 2, 2021, and now includes British Columbians in the northwest, southwest, central, and southeast areas of the province and on Vancouver Island.

This assistance includes all Indigenous communities, electoral areas and municipalities within those geographic boundaries.

DFA is available to homeowners, residential tenants, business owners, farm owners, and charitable organizations that were unable to obtain insurance to cover disaster-related losses. By regulation, DFA is unable to compensate for losses for which insurance was reasonably and readily available. DFA will continue to assess each individual applicant by applying its existing legislative criteria in a fair and consistent way.

Emergency Management BC (EMBC) will accept applications until March 3, 2022.

Facts about Disaster Financial Assistance:

Applicants should be aware of the following:

* Financial assistance is provided for each accepted claim at 80% of the amount of total eligible damage that exceeds $1,000, to a maximum claim of $300,000.

* Claims may be made in more than one category (e.g., homeowner and farm owner).

* A homeowner or residential tenant must show that the home is their principal residence.

* Seasonal or recreational properties, hot tubs, patios, pools, garden tools, landscaping, luxury items (e.g., jewelry, fur coats and collectibles) and recreational items (e.g., bicycles) are not eligible.

* Small business owners and farm owners must demonstrate that their farms and businesses are their primary source of income.

* Charitable organizations must provide a benefit of service to the community at large.

* DFA is limited to restoring actual damage caused by a specific disaster that has been declared eligible for compensation.

Assistance is also available to Indigenous communities and local governments:

* Emergency response measures authorized by Emergency Management BC according to response task number:

* These include incremental costs associated with their Emergency Operations Centre.

* Financial assistance is provided for each accepted response claim at 100%.

* Completed response claim summaries and supporting documentation must be sent to the respective EMBC regional office.British Columbians can access the DFA application online: http://www.gov.bc.ca/disasterfinancialassistance