The Fund prioritizes partnerships between Black-led organizations and other partners like governments, non-profits and other organizations.

Contribution Funding through the Affordable Housing Fund is designed to support organizations that have already partnered and secured funding but need more capital. It can be used to:

• top-up funding – when you have most of your project funding secured and require top-up funding to close a funding gap
• leverage other funding sources – get funding confirmation within 30 days of being prioritized that can then be used to secure funding from other sources

Contribution Funding provides:

• an unsecured contribution that facilitates seamless integration into project financing structures. This can make it easier for you to attract other sources of funding.
• more certainty on funding amounts* Please refer to the Project Assessment Workbook for more details.

* The Affordable Housing Fund’s Contribution funding amounts are calculated based on 3 factors:

• a per unit calculation
• specific project needs
• a percentage of costs (non-profits/co-ops = 40%.)

The final amount of funding is determined by whichever of these 3 calculations results in the lowest figure. For non-profit organizations and co-ops, this percentage of costs is capped at 40%.

Eligible applicants include:

• Black-led organizations in Canada

Eligible projects include the construction of:

• new community and affordable housing
• mixed use market / affordable rental
• conversion from a non-residential use to affordable residential
• shelters
• transitional and supportive housing

To be eligible your project:

• must have a minimum of 5 units/beds
• be primarily for residential use

Your projects must have support from another level of government such as:

• a municipality
• a province or territory

Partners will be required to contribute to the project including monetary or in-kind contributions.

Support can be in the form of investment of resources. It can also be in the form of a letter endorsing your project.

Once received, your application will be reviewed for readiness, eligibility and completion.

We will contact you if additional documentation or clarifications are required before starting the assessment and prioritization of your application.

To effectively create your application:

1. Talk to your CMHC specialist to help you gather the required documentation (see the Required Documentation Checklist (PDF) and Program Highlight and Funding Eligibility Sheet (PDF)).
2. You must submit the Project Assessment Workbook (XLSX), the Integrity Declaration (PDF) as well as the Accessibility Attestation (PDF) and the Energy Efficiency Attestation (PDF).

Approval process and timelines

1. Contribution funding commitment (up to 30 days)
   You’ll receive a contribution agreement confirming CMHC’s conditional approval of funding for the project if your application is deemed complete.
2. Meet funding conditions (you have up to 6 months to satisfy all conditions)
   Your CMHC specialist will continue to work with you to meet all conditions outlined in the agreement. You must fulfil the required conditions within the set time frame. Failure to do so could potentially result in the cancellation of your application or changes to the funding commitment from CMHC.
3. First advance (required documentation must be provided 10 days before each drawdown date)
   The contribution agreement will outline the process and any supporting documentation needed to request an advance from CMHC.