Affordable Housing Seed Funding Grant Program

Overview

Coming spring 2025! Are you a non-profit interested in building affordable housing? Explore seed funding grants to help cover your pre-construction costs.

Background

Coming spring 2025! The City of Guelph is providing seed funding to registered non-profits interested in building affordable housing. Non-profits can use the seed funding to help cover pre-construction costs, such as feasibility studies, site surveys or planning fees.

Should the proposed development move forward, rental housing units must remain affordable for at least 25 years at the rates set through the Province’s Affordable Residential Unit Bulletin for Guelph.

The Affordable Housing Seed Funding Grant Program is one of the ways that the City is working with partners like non-profits to create more opportunities for affordable housing in Guelph. The seed funding grants are one of the actions included in the City’s Housing Affordability Strategy which aims to increase housing that is affordable in Guelph over the next decade.

How much is available?

Non-profits can apply for up to $25,000 to support preconstruction activities, such as:

  • Analysis of need and demand for the proposed project
  • Special purpose surveys
  • Financial feasibility study
  • Business plans
  • Professional appraisal
  • Site surveys
  • Planning fees (for example, rezoning, development agreement costs)
  • Preliminary design assistance
  • Project viability study
  • Environment site assessments
  • Geotechnical reports (soil load bearing tests)
  • Energy modelling study (cost-benefit analysis)
  • Accessibility modelling study (cost-benefit analysis)

Who is eligible?

To be eligible, you must be a registered and charitable non-profit that:

  • meets the criteria of a non-profit developer under the Development Charges Act (1997)
  • is in good standing with either the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (2010), Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (2009), or is registered as a non-profit housing co-operative under the Co-operative Corporations Act (1990) with the primary objective of providing housing that is affordable.

Note: Stacking of the City’s affordable housing seed funding grants and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation seed funding will be permitted.

How does the City evaluate applications?

Projects will be evaluated based on housing needs in the city, which include:

  • form and size of housing units;
  • structure type;
  • intended use of grant funding;
  • length that the housing units will remain affordable (minimum 25 years); and
  • alignment with the City’s Housing Affordability Strategy.

For more information

For more information, please email [email protected] or call 519-822-1260 to speak to the ServiceGuelph team.