Rehab/Renovation/New-Build Programs

Rental RRAP
Rooming House RRAP
Exterior Fix-up Grants
Downtown Winnipeg Residential Development Grant Program (tax incentive program)
ecoENERGY Retrofit Incentive for Buildings
CMHC Seed Funding
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

Exterior Fix-up Grants

Certain Neighbourhood Renewal Corporations (NRCs) administer small fix-up grants for homeowners and landlords. These grants are often distributed by a lottery system. Applications are often received in May or June. Contact the organization directly for specific details. Grants are up to $2500 per building which must be matched with equal contribution by the owner.

NRCs: North End Community Renewal Corp. 927-2341 (neighbourhoods: St. Johns; William Whyte; Point Douglas; Dufferin; Lord Selkirk Park). Central Neighbourhoods Development Corp. 954-3860 (neighbourhoods: West Alexander and Centennial). Daniel McIntyre St. Matthews Community Association 774-7005 x102. West Broadway Development Corp. 774-7201 x2. Spence Neighbourhood Association 783-2758.

The Downtown Winnipeg Residential Development Grant Program

The City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba combine to offer a tax increment financing grant: Developers may be eligible to receive a tax-based grant for creating multiple family residential units in Winnipeg’s downtown. Projects can be new construction, additions, conversions, or redevelopment of eligible buildings.

The Downtown Winnipeg 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. A minimum of 10 per cent of the new housing units supported under this program will be for low-income individuals and families as well as people with disabilities.Â

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.

CMHC Seed Funding

The successful development of housing requires appropriate skills, expertise and commitment. Proponents need to be organized, and must know how to evaluate housing need and demand in their community, and how to obtain the money and other resources to make their proposed housing project a reality. CMHC Seed Funding provides proponents with financial assistance to carry out these initial activities.

To be eligible for Seed Funding, your proposed housing project must be affordable

You intend to produce a rental housing project in which most of the units will have rents within CMHC’s Affordability Criteria. (CMHC can provide you with the Affordability Criteria in the community where you intend to produce housing that meet this guideline.)

You intend to produce a homeowner project in which the units will be modest and the purchase prices will be below the market for units of a similar type, size and number of bedrooms in the subject housing market.

Who is eligible?

Seed Funding may be made available to any proponent of a housing project that will be affordable. For example, the proponent may be:

A not-for-profit organization
A housing cooperative
A First Nation
A private entrepreneur
A group of individuals who may or may not intend to become incorporated

What activities are eligible?

Seed Funding may be used to pay for a variety of activities in the early stages of developing a housing project proposal. These activities must be directly related to the development of the housing project proposal. Eligible items include:

Housing market studies to evaluate need and demand for the proposed project
Development of a business plan
Exploration of funding sources or options
Evaluation of procurement options
Preliminary financial viability analysis
Environmental site assessment
Preliminary design of the housing project (new construction, renovation or conversion)
Incorporation of a not-for-profit organization

What is the maximum funding amount?

The maximum amount of Seed Funding is $20,000 per housing project proposal to carry out eligible activities.

Up to $10,000 for a given housing project proposal is in the form of a grant, with no repayment required.
An additional amount - up to $10,000 - may be made available in the form of an interest-free loan, which is repayable if the housing project proceeds.
If the proposal does not result in the production of housing, the repayable portion of the Seed Funding may be forgiven by CMHC.

CMHC Seed Funding website

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.