There may be fewer tarps covering buildings. But if you thought B.C.'s leaky condo crisis was over, think again.

A government program created to help leaky condo owners has run out of money, leaving eight Victoria residents with a bill they can't pay and a home they might lose.

Half of the owners at "The Swans" simply couldn't afford to cough up $80,000 each to cover the cost of leaky condo repairs. But the repairs began last month after they were told they qualified for government help

The owners were depending on The Homeowner Protection Office, which was created in the late 1990s to provide zero interest loans to people facing massive leaky condo repairs bills.

HPO is primarily funded by a levy on new construction. The problem is new construction has all but ground to a halt, and so has funding for the HPO.

"We've had to go back to government because we've reached our lending limit for this year,'' said B.C. Housing Minister Rich Coleman. "We have to raise that a little bit to deal with the rest of the loans that we have outstanding,'' he said.

That includes the eight loans to cover the cost of repairing The Swans.

"The contract is the contract, we have to continue with work -- and the owners that were approved for HPO funding will either have to come up with alternate funding or a lien would be put against their property,'' said Jeff Taylor, President of The Swans strata council. "It's just the law.''

When questioned by a CTV News reporter, Coleman said people who thought that they would get their loan and now won't, should be patient. "We're looking at that file,'' he said.

But with the first repair payment due this week, the condo owners are feeling the pressure.

"I'm angry. I'm nauseous. I'm appauled,'' said Taylor.

And other leaky condo owners, who were counting on an HPO loan, may soon feel the same way.

When Coleman was asked if he thinks the HPO program is sustainable, he replied: "Well we're looking at the program now to see how sustainable it will be in the future. It's not supposed to go on and on forever, so we will do that work over the summer."

Work on The Swans will continue over the summer too. But no-one who lives there knows how that work will be paid for.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson