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

Like in the Affordable Housing Fund’s Rapid Housing Sub-Stream, there is dedicated funding of up to 100% of eligible costs for new affordable housing.

• Proponents may be eligible for contributions, forgivable loans and repayable loans. Eligibility depends on the project’s needs and how well it meets affordability, energy efficiency and accessibility outcomes.
• CMHC may provide up to 100% of the eligible construction and development costs of the project, depending on the needs of the project.
• CMHC does not cover ongoing operations and maintenance costs of units and/or projects.

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
• must have residential as its primary use

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

• a municipality
• a province or territory

In order to maximize the outcomes of the Affordable Housing Fund – Rapid Housing Sub-Stream, CMHC will prioritize applications where proponents have confirmed other sources of capital funding.

*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 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).
3. Submit your application in the application portal after you have received confirmation from your CMHC Specialist.

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.

Please refer to these documents to support your application:

• Program Highlight Sheet – Rapid Housing Sub-Stream (PDF)
• Required Documentation Checklist – New Construction (PDF)
• Project Assessment Workbook – Rapid Housing Sub-Stream (XLS)
• Need help using the workbook? Access our interactive guide for more information. Coming soon! Meanwhile, a CMHC Specialist is ready to help you.
• Energy Efficiency Attestation (PDF)
• Accessibility Attestation (PDF)
• Integrity Declaration (PDF)
• Applicant Guide (PDF)

The Affordable Housing Fund minimum requirements for energy efficiency and accessibility were updated in November 2024 to align with newer codes and standards. We understand that these changes may challenge projects where the design is already in progress and may result in financial impacts.

Transition period guidelines

To help with the transition, applications meeting the criteria below can use the previous Affordable Housing Fund energy efficiency and accessibility minimum requirements, until September 30, 2025. Regardless of which codes are used, we will prioritize applications that show the strongest commitment to improving social outcomes.

Important deadline

• Submit your application, including all required documents, on or before September 30, 2025, 11:59 pm ET, to qualify for the transition period.
• Applications submitted after this date will not be accepted and incomplete applications will not be processed.

You can find the checklist of required documents on the Affordable Housing Fund website under each program option.

Application guidelines

To ensure your application is eligible for review, please follow these guidelines:

• Submit your application before September 30, 2025, to ensure it is completed on time.
• Make sure your application is complete.
• Submit all required documents.

After September 30, 2025, 11:59 pm ET, we will only review and process complete applications.

If you would like to discuss how these changes may affect your application or next steps, please contact us.

We strongly encourage you to submit your application with all required documents before the September 30, 2025, deadline to ensure eligibility. After this date, no changes or updates to your application will be accepted.