Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI)

RHI 1 and 2 provided capital contributions under two streams (Cities Stream, and Projects Stream) to expedite the delivery of affordable housing. The objective was to:

• Support the creation of new permanent affordable housing units.
• Cover the construction of new rental housing units, as well as the acquisition of land, and the conversion/rehabilitation of existing buildings to affordable housing.
• Aim to commit all funds as quickly as possible to ensure housing is available within 12 months of agreements unless otherwise agreed upon.

Round 1 (October 27, 2020 – March 31, 2021):

The Government of Canada, through CMHC, launched the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) in October 2020. The initial funding for this initiative was $1 billion to help address urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians, especially in the context of COVID-19, through the rapid construction of affordable housing.

The first round of RHI exceeded its initial target of creating up to 3,000 new affordable units and will support the construction of more than 4,700 units across Canada.

Round 2 (June 30, 2021 – March 31, 2022):

Budget 2021 provides an additional investment of $1.5 billion in new funding for the Rapid Housing Initiative in 2021-22 to address the urgent housing needs of vulnerable Canadians.

The second round of RHI exceeded its initial target of creating 4,500 new affordable units and is expected to create over 5,400 new units across Canada.

RHI 1 and 2 Results Combined

The total number of units expected to be created with the support of RHI will exceed 10,000 new units. The details are as follows:

Combined totals from RHI-1 (June 2021) data plus RHI-2 (January 2022) data
Due to the nature of construction projects, variance in the number of units to be created is possible. The final results on the number of units delivered will be known at the time of project completion.

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