Rehab/Renovation Programs

Rental RRAP
Rooming House RRAP
Multiple Family/Mixed-Use Building Grant Program (City of Winnipeg tax incentive program)
ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive for Buildings
Manitoba Power Smart
The Home Depot Canada Foundation Affordable Housing Grant

Rental Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (Rental RRAP)

The Rental RRAP is cost shared by the federal and provincial governments, and is administered by MHRC in Winnipeg. Rental RRAP offers financial assistance to landlords of affordable housing by providing a forgivable loan to pay for eligible repairs to self-contained units used by low-income tenants. Eligible repairs are those required to bring properties up to minimum levels of health and safety.

Who is eligible?
Owners/landlords of affordable, self-contained, housing units may be eligible for assistance under this program. Successful applicants must meet ALL of the following conditions:

The total gross household incomes of tenants are at, or below, the established limits.
The projects have pre-RRAP and post-RRAP rents set at, or below, the Median Market Rents (MMR) for Winnipeg.
The property lacks basic facilities or requires major repair in one or more of the following five key areas - structural, electrical, plumbing, heating, fire safety.
Tenants are not family relatives of the property owner.

What types of repairs are eligible?
Eligible repairs are limited to mandatory repairs, listed in the RRAP Standards, which are required to bring properties up to minimum levels of health and safety. Once repaired, the property should have a further useful life of 15 years.

Please note: Work carried out before you receive approval of the Rental RRAP loan in writing, is NOT eligible for funding under this program.

What financial assistance is available?
Assistance is in the form of a forgivable loan - it does not have to be repaid if certain conditions are met. The maximum loan is between $24,000 and $28,000 per self-contained unit, depending on the location of the property.

The loan covers up to 100 per cent of the cost for mandatory repairs. This is the actual cost of repairs that are eligible to receive funding. (Only repairs defined in the RRAP Standards as 'mandatory' will be considered for funding, and all mandatory repairs must be completed.)

For your information
If you meet the eligibility criteria and wish to receive an application package, or if you require additional information, contact the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation - Affordable Housing.

Other programs are available to help with major repairs to substandard, single family housing; modifications to make homes more accessible to persons with disabilities; and minor adjustments to homes to meet the needs of seniors with age-related difficulties.

For more information on these programs or to find out how to apply for financial assistance, contact:

Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation - Affordable Housing
Main floor - 280 Broadway
Winnipeg MB R3C OR8
Phone: 945-5566 (in Winnipeg)
Toll-free: 1-866-689-5566

Rooming House Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program

The Rooming House RRAP is cost shared by the federal and provincial governments, and is administered by MHRC in Winnipeg. The Rooming House RRAP offers owners of rooming houses (who offer affordable rents to low-income individuals) financial assistance by providing a forgivable loan to pay for eligible house repairs. Eligible repairs are those required to bring properties up to minimum levels of health and safety, and prolong the life of the rooming house.

Who is eligible?
Owners/landlords of rooming houses with more than three bed-units, used as permanent residence for the occupants, may be eligible for assistance under this program. Successful applicants must meet ALL of the following conditions:

Rental rates for the bed-units are at, or below, the established levels for the market area.
The property lacks basic facilities or requires major repairs in at least one of five key areas - structural, electrical, plumbing, heating, fire safety.
Tenants are not family relatives of the property owner.

What types of repairs are eligible?
Eligible repairs are limited to mandatory repairs, listed in the RRAP Standards, which are required to bring rooming houses up to minimum levels of health and safety. Once repaired, the property should have a further useful life of 15 years.

Please note: Work carried out before you receive approval of the Rooming House RRAP loan in writing is NOT eligible for funding under this program.

What financial assistance is available?
Assistance is in the form of a fully forgivable loan - it does not have to be repaid if certain conditions are met. The maximum loan is between $16,000 and $19,000 per bed-unit, depending on the geographic location of the property. The loan covers up to 100 per cent of the cost for mandatory repairs. This is the actual cost of repairs that are eligible to receive funding. (Only repairs defined in the RRAP Standards as 'mandatory' will be considered for funding, and all mandatory repairs must be completed.)

To be eligible under this program, owners of rooming houses must:

Agree to place a limit on rents charged after the repairs are completed
Limit rent increases during the term of the agreement
Agree to limit new occupancy to tenants with incomes at, or below, the income limit
Cover the cost of mandatory repairs that are higher than the loan amount

For your information
If you meet the eligibility criteria and wish to receive an application package, or if you require additional information on this program, contact the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation - Affordable Housing.

For more information on these programs or to find out how to apply for financial assistance, contact:

Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation - Affordable Housing
Main floor - 280 Broadway
Winnipeg MB R3C OR8
Phone: 945-5566 (in Winnipeg)
Toll-free: 1-866-689-5566

Multiple Family/Mixed-Use Building Grant Program

The City of Winnipeg offers two tax-based grants: Developers may be eligible to receive a tax-based grant for creating multiple family residential units in Winnipeg’s downtown and in specific neighbourhoods. Projects can be new construction, additions, conversions, or redevelopment of eligible buildings. Besides the downtown, the program is also offered in the following neighbourhoods:

Brooklands, Burrows Central, Burrows, Keewatin, Centennial, Central St. Boniface, Chalmers, Daniel McIntyre, Dufferin, Dufferin Industrial, Ebby-Wentworth, Inkster-Faraday, Kensington, King Edward, Logan, Lord Roberts, Lord Selkirk Park, Luxton, McMillan, North Point Douglas, River Osborne, South Point Douglas, Spence, St. Johns, St. John’s Park, St. Matthews, Tissot, West Alexander, West Broadway, Weston, William Whyte, Wolseley, Mynarski, Shaughnessy Park.

For full descriptions of these grant programs, go to the City of Winnipeg website.

The Province of Manitoba will be contributing the City's downtown program starting May 2010. The Downtown Residential Development Grant Program is supported by Community Revitalization Tax Increment Finance Act and will provide up to $20 million in incentives to developers over the next three years. Under this plan, developers will be provided a grant that is equal to the incremental taxes on improved property for up to 15 years. Developers could be eligible for grants of up to $40,000 for each rental or condominium housing unit built or renovated in Winnipeg’s downtown.

Writing a Business Plan

If you are assembling capital to build or renovate affordable housing units, CMHC provides a guide on writing a business plan.

ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive for Buildings

Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) offers a financial incentive to help your organization implement energy-saving projects in commercial and institutional buildings. The OEE encourages multiple measures and will consider most proven energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

If you have not yet started a new energy efficiency project, you could receive up to $10 per gigajoule of estimated energy savings, 25 percent of eligible project costs or $50,000 per project. When applying, you will need to provide a pre-project energy audit of your buildings.

Eligible Buildings
Each building can have an area no more than 20,000 square metres (215,279 square feet), and you must continue to use the space for the same purpose. Organizations that own, manage or lease the following types of buildings can apply:

Commercial and institutional buildings;
Provincial, territorial and municipal government buildings;
Multi-unit residential buildings (with at least four storeys or a footprint of at least 600 square metres and a common entrance);
Mixed-use commercial/residential buildings.

Key Steps

Arrange a pre-project energy audit at your own expense as described in the Application Guide.
Submit an Application Form and other required documents.
Receive written approval from the OEE before starting the project or incurring eligible costs.
Complete the project within 12 months.
The OEE will verify the work and issue a cheque for the total eligible amount.

Manitoba Hydro Power Smart

Click here for the full range of Power Smart Savings, Rebates & Loans, including Power Smart Home Programs and Financial Loan Programs, and Power Smart Commercial Programs and Financial Loan Programs.

The Home Depot Canada Foundation Affordable Housing Grant

This program will provide up to $25,000 to Canadian registered charities completing housing projects that
are healthy to live and affordable to own. Applications will only be accepted from registered Canadian charities and other tax exempt entities such as municipalities.

Eligible projects include affordable housing unit refurbishments, retrofits and/or build projects that are either
built in accordance with recognized sustainable standards or include sustainable building techniques and/or
materials. More info on the Foundation's website.