Housing Accelerator Fund: Large/Urban Stream

Funding for the development of affordable, inclusive, equitable, and climate-resilient communities in populations of 10,000 or more.

What is the Housing Accelerator Fund?

The Housing Accelerator Fund provides incentive funding to local governments. The funding is meant to remove barriers and support the development of affordable, inclusive, equitable and climate-resilient communities.

To be eligible for the Large/Urban Stream, applicants must have a population of 10,000+ and be in a Canadian province. Approved participants can use incentive funding for investments in:

Housing Accelerator Fund action plans
affordable housing
housing-related infrastructure
community-related infrastructure that supports housing

The framework for determining the amount of incentive funding includes base funding, top-up funding and an affordable housing bonus.

NOTE: Municipalities with smaller populations, territories and Indigenous communities should apply for the Small/Rural/North/Indigenous Stream

Fund Details

Incentive funding can be used for prescribed uses, which fall under 4 categories:

Investments in Housing Accelerator Fund Action Plans
Investments in Affordable Housing
Investments in Housing-Related Infrastructure
Investments in Community-Related Infrastructure that Supports Housing

Funding methodology

The amount of funding is based on the total projected increase in the number of permitted units and the associated housing types. There are 3 components of the funding framework:

base funding
top-up funding
an affordable housing bonus

Refer to section 10 of the Pre-Application Reference Guide for more details on the funding methodology.

Funding schedule

Approved applicants will get 4 advances with 1 advance planned for each year of the program.

You will receive an upfront advance to begin implementing your action plan after the contribution agreement is signed.

Subsequent payments will be made annually for 3 years, subject to program conditions being met. This includes satisfactory progress reviews.

Refer to section 13 of the Pre-Application Reference Guide for more details on the funding schedule.

About the Housing Accelerator Fund

The Housing Accelerator Fund is an application-based program introduced in the 2022 Federal Budget. It had an initial funding allocation of $4 billion until 2026-27 and one application window in 2023.

The 2024 Federal Budget announced an additional $400 million in funding until 2027-28. This funding is only available only to applicants who were not approved in the 2023 application window.

The program is intended to drive transformational change within the sphere of control of the local government regarding land use planning and development approvals. The Fund’s objective is to accelerate the supply of housing across Canada, resulting in at least 112,000 more housing units permitted than would have occurred without the program. The Housing Accelerator Fund aims to support lasting changes that will improve housing supply for years to come.