Eligible applicants include:

• municipalities, provinces and territories
• private sector developers and builders
• non-profit housing providers and community housing organizations
• Indigenous governments and organizations

To be eligible your proposal needs to demonstrate:

• Innovation: Your innovative approach can facilitate prospective buyers transitioning from renting to owning a home within 5 years.
• Affordability: Your proposal supports housing affordability, which could include all units or designated unit(s) within a given model or project.
• Financial sustainability: Your proposal is financially viable, or a plan is in place to ensure financial viability.
• Safeguards: Your proposal must have contractual mechanisms in place to provide safeguards and consumer protections to prospective home buyers. These include:
  • Provision s for at least a partial refund for payments (in excess of reasonable administration costs) made in excess of market rents in the event the sale does not proceed as anticipated.
  • Limits on rent increases no greater than the annual increase permitted under applicable legislation/regulations or, in the absence of legislation/regulations limiting the annual increase of the subject unit, then rent increases will be limited to the applicable consumer price index.
  • Clearly stipulated sale price or methodology for determining the future sale price.

Knowledge transfer

As part of your application, you must provide a knowledge transfer plan and information dissemination strategy for your innovative project or idea.

Knowledge transfer objectives include:

• capturing and sharing information, lessons learned and insights gained through the initiative
• advancing the capabilities of the housing sector and knowledge of decision-makers
• Inform and influence policymakers, builders or seed the next generation of innovations to improve housing affordability
• planting the seeds for the next generation of innovations to improve housing affordability

You’ll also need to describe if and how your innovative proposal will support the following objectives. These will be used to prioritize proposals:

• reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions
• increase the number of accessible units within the housing stock 
• address the needs of National Housing Strategy priority populations

CMHC accepts and reviews applications on a continual basis and funding announcements are made on a periodic basis.

What happens if your proposal meets program criteria?

Proposals that meet rent-to-own criteria will be reviewed by industry experts from within and outside CMHC. They’ll review proposals for innovation, ability to deliver and other key factors. Expert reviewers are from diverse sectors including:

• financial
• lending
• academia
• innovation
• construction and engineering
• all levels of government

If your proposal doesn’t meet minimum requirements, we will discuss options with you, including resubmitting it later.

Reviewers will assess and verify the level of innovation and prioritize applications for review by CMHC.

Funding and financing available to approved proposals

The amount and type of funding will vary based on the proposals received. Funding examples can take on varying forms with innovative funding and flexible financing options.

Some form of security may be needed depending on your proposal.

Additional details

In your application, you’ll need to answer questions in the following areas:

• residential and affordable unit timing
• support sought from the Rent-to-Own stream for housing providers
• climate/energy efficiency application
• partnerships
• rent-to-own indicator
• innovation readiness
• innovation details
• proponent experience
• innovation overview
• risks and mitigation
• innovation in relation to rent-to-own
• innovation sustainability

We will get in touch with you if we require additional documentation or clarification.