The Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative (COCHI), Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative (OPHI), and Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB) are delivered under the Community Housing Renewal Strategy (CHRS).

Ontario is working together with our SMs, IPAs, and delivery partners to achieve targets and outcomes that are focused on meeting the housing needs of vulnerable Ontario families and individuals. This includes ensuring that tenants in existing social housing units are protected, that the stock of existing social housing is preserved as a public asset, that new affordable housing units are created, and that those who require rental assistance are helped. These outcomes and expected results are set out in the tables below.

Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative (COCHI)

COCHI helps maintain Ontario’s social housing supply, including Urban Native Housing units, and over time will expand the supply of rent-assisted units. The initiative helps to protect tenants living in projects with expiring operating agreements/mortgages and promotes the long-term sustainability of non-profit and co-operative housing providers.

The focus of the funding under this program continues to be on protecting tenants and the preservation of social housing supply. Funding also targets social housing providers that can demonstrate their potential for long-term sustainability. For providers whose original obligations have expired, or mortgages have matured, funding will only be accessible if they remain in the community housing system. Funding priorities for the second action plan period are:

  • Protecting rent-geared-to-income (RGI) tenants in non-profit and co-operative housing projects with expiring operating agreements/mortgages through ongoing geared-to-income rent, where the provider continues to receive an operating subsidy or enters into a rent supplement agreement (a rent supplement is a subsidy paid to the landlord on behalf of a household in need of rental assistance).
  • Assisting community housing providers with expiring operating agreements/mortgages to remain viable and continue to provide community housing. This can take the form of one or more of the following:
    • a time-limited transitional operating subsidy agreement associated with achieving housing provider financial independence and sustainability
    • access to repair funding to support ongoing financial independence and sustainability
    • a rent supplement agreement for a set number of rental units
  • Maintaining the number of Urban Native Housing units through repair, capital replacement, household affordability support and/or operating subsidies to achieve provider sustainability.
  • Supporting effective transitions for non-profit, co-operative and municipally owned community housing into the new regulatory framework for community housing.
  • Expanding the social housing supply through the creation of new community housing units.

Under the COCHI, social housing tenants are protected in 2 ways:

  • Improvements to the physical structure of community housing buildings through repairs and renovations result in better living conditions for the low-income and vulnerable tenants who live there. Improvements to core building systems, such as heating and cooling, also reduce the operating costs for community housing and increase the amount of funding that can be put towards protecting tenancies and preserving supply. Extending the physical life of the stock could enable more low-income and vulnerable tenants to live in community housing. Investments in community housing improvements will be protected through COCHI’s requirement that funded community housing providers continue to offer affordable housing for 10 years following the completion of a retrofit, instead of turning these units into market housing.
  • Providing ongoing financial assistance to rent-geared-to-income tenants in community housing projects with expiring operating agreements/mortgages ensures that in-situ households are not adversely affected once original obligations to provide subsidized housing end.

Addressing the housing needs of Indigenous Ontarians is also a critical priority for both orders of government. Ensuring that the number of Urban Native Housing units is maintained, and that the retained units are repaired to good condition, will benefit the vulnerable populations that live there. Tenants will benefit from better living conditions and extended life of the stock.

Funding under this initiative can be used to help providers address sustainability issues such as:

  • streamlining internal operations to improve efficiencies
  • amalgamating smaller provider corporations to improve operating efficiencies or foster economies of scale
  • coordinating procurement opportunities among a number of providers.
  • asset management planning services, such as building condition surveys and technical assessments of significant repairs that must be made within identified timelines

The preservation of social housing through COCHI will help to maintain existing housing in areas that are often already accessible to services, employment opportunities and transit. Service Managers can use funding to increase the supply of community housing, which addresses local needs and priorities that are consistent with local housing and homelessness plans. This supports the creation of more liveable and inclusive communities.

Repairs to social housing under this initiative will also provide employment through local companies in municipalities across Ontario. Local employment benefits will continue into the future as the installed building systems, such as heating and cooling, would need local companies to provide ongoing maintenance.

Results to date

Ontario has made significant progress against the majority of its COCHI-related targets. In some cases, the province has significantly exceeded 9-year targets that were to be achieved by 2027-28, with additional progress expected by the end of 2024-25.

For example, Ontario’s inaugural 3-year NHS Action Plan (2019-20 to 2021-22) set a target for the number of units that continue to be offered in social housing with a maintained rent subsidy (131,063) as well as the number of these units that were to be repaired (20% of this total, or 26,213). As of March 31, 2023, Ontario not only continued to maintain the rent subsidy for these units, it also made repairs to over 70,778 social housing units across the province’s total social housing stock with an additional 52,590 targeted for repair in 2023-24 and 2024-25. This total would exceed the existing repair target by 97,155, or 370%. This overachievement has helped to ensure that the broader social housing stock continues to be maintained in a state of good repair, thereby reducing additional supply side pressures that would otherwise result if necessary repaired were not maintained over time.

While this represents a substantive achievement, the province recognizes that there must be complementary growth in additional supply. Ontario’s first 3-year NHS Action Plan also set a target for the construction of 19,660 new rent-assisted units by the end of the 2027-28 fiscal year. This target is equal to 15% of the baseline for the number of social housing units that continue to be offered with a maintained rent subsidy (for example, 15% of 131,063 units) over the duration of the NHS.

As of year-end 2021-22, Ontario added 3,331 units against this target (16.9% of the target). These results were achieved notwithstanding economic headwinds and other factors which have impacted the province’s ability to demonstrate greater progress against the target since it was first established in 2019. This includes new rent-assisted units delivered under COCHI, the Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative (OPHI), SSRF, RHI and AHF (with the latter 2 federal initiatives supported with ongoing HPP funding), and supportive housing units delivered by the Ontario Ministry of Health (MOH).

Through this second 3-year action plan, Ontario is forecasting the construction of an additional 5,313 rent-assisted units through these initiatives as well as the provincially-delivered Home for Good program (consolidated under the provincial HPP program as of April 1, 2023) bringing the estimated total to 8,644 rent-assisted units (44.0% of target) by March 31, 2025. Ontario worked closely with CMHC, partnering ministries, and its service managers to develop these targets and is continuing to engage these critical stakeholders as it implements its plan for achieving the overall 15% expansion target by March 31, 2028.

  • as part of this work, an additional 1,519 supportive housing units being delivered by the MOH may be included in the projected target pending CMHC’s receipt of additional project details and final confirmation of eligibility
  • with the inclusion of these units, Ontario’s estimated total would be 10,163 rent-assisted units (51.7% of target) by March 31, 2025

Ontario’s plan to achieve the 19,660 new rent-assisted units by 2027-28 would include the following actions:

  • Engage municipal service managers/Indigenous program administrators in Summer 2024 to establish agreed-upon provincial supply targets for each of the remaining 3 years of the NHS beginning in 2025-26.
    • This would be a significant departure from how the province has worked with Service Managers for more than 2 decades and would require for the province to take a more directive and prescriptive approach.
  • Focus funding on new units, by directing some or all of the $975 million in COCHI funds in the final 3-year action plan towards this goal.
    • To implement these 2 related actions, Ontario will also set targets for individual service managers/Indigenous program administrators and/or create an application-based process for assessing projects that prioritize the construction of new supply
  • Provide additional funding to the cities of Toronto ($600 million) and Ottawa ($120 million), which include significant allocations for emergency shelters, homelessness prevention and rent subsidies that will support growth in below-market supply.
  • Implement robust data collection and reporting mechanisms, bringing greater transparency to Ontario’s current and future affordable housing commitments. This work includes:
    • Ongoing work with its ministerial partners (such as the Ministry of Health) to identify units that could be counted towards the target (for example,  supportive housing units that serve vulnerable populations).
    • Implementing reporting enhancements with service managers/Indigenous program administrators that better capture other potentially eligible units, including the expansion of rent supplements to units that support low-income households.
    • Continue to work closely with CMHC to confirm unit eligibility towards the expansion target and validate related data while identifying opportunities for joint funding of new supply initiatives (such as the Housing Accelerator Fund).
  • Incentivize the construction of new affordable housing by eliminating development-related charges (development charges, parkland dedication fees, and community benefit charges) for affordable housing, non-profit housing and inclusionary zoning units.
  • Creating the $1.2 billion Building Faster Fund (BFF) to incentivize municipalities to get more homes built. BFF funds can be used by municipalities to fund the development of new affordable housing units and, along with the $825 million Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and $1 billion for the new Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, supports crucial housing-enabling infrastructure needed to support all types of housing.
  • Implementing an inclusionary zoning framework to require new affordable housing units as part of market housing development near transit.
  • Working with municipal service managers/Indigenous program administrators to ensure alignment with the overall strategy for achieving the target, including through innovative revitalization and densification opportunities to create net new units (similar to Toronto’s Regent Park, Alexandra Park and Lawrence Heights sites).

Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative (OPHI)

Between 2022-23 to 2024-25, OPHI continues to provide flexible funding to address local housing priorities and improve access to affordable housing options. The initiative will help to increase affordable housing supply, increase housing affordability and improve the state of repair of the affordable and social housing stock. Eligible funding activities include:

  • increasing community housing supply (for example, construction of housing or conversion to housing)
  • preserving affordable and community housing, which can include repair, renovation or adaptation of housing
  • providing affordability support such as housing allowances, rent supplements and home- owner down payment assistance
  • providing support services to affordable and social housing tenants

Service Managers (SMs) and Indigenous Program Administrators (IPAs) have the flexibility to determine which program components they participate in, based on local needs and priorities. As such, SMs and IPAs are not required to participate in all program components in a fiscal year.

SMs and IPAs are required to prioritize funding to address the housing needs of the identified vulnerable populations. Up to 20% of cost-matching funding can also be used to provide support services to affordable and social housing tenants, such as financial literacy and accessing social supports. IPAs also deliver an Off-Reserve Indigenous Housing component which provides funding for new affordable rental housing, construction, home repair and homeownership assistance targeted specifically to Indigenous households.

A key objective of OPHI is to incorporate energy efficiency into new affordable housing units and building design. Through the program guidelines, SMs and IPAs are encouraged to prioritize projects that include the use of energy efficient features. Ontario also encourages the use of energy-saving products and systems for repairs in affordable and social housing through the program guidelines.

Under the Rental Housing component, recommended projects are expected to maximize achievable reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that either meet or exceed the current National Energy Code and Ontario Building Code requirements.

Under the Ontario Renovates component, eligible activities include repairs and rehabilitation required to bring a home/unit to an acceptable standard while improving energy efficiency.

An objective of the Ontario Renovates component is to foster independent living of seniors and persons with disabilities by providing financial assistance to support modifications and renovations to increase accessibility of affordable rental and ownership properties. The Home Repair sub-component includes assistance for low and moderate-income homeowner households to increase accessibility of their home through modifications and adaptations. The Multi-Unit Rehabilitation sub-component includes assistance for landlords of eligible rental buildings and community housing providers to rehabilitate units that require essential repairs and/or modify units to increase accessibility.

SMs and IPAs are required to prioritize and track community employment benefits for large rental projects. SMs/IPAs are also encouraged to give priority consideration to projects that provide community employment benefits, including work contracts for small and medium-sized businesses and job creation for apprentices, Indigenous Peoples, women in construction, veterans and newcomers to Canada.

Between 2021-22 and 2027-28, OPHI funding declines on a year-over-year basis from a high of $99.9 million in 2021-22 (joint federal provincial funding) to a low of $22 million in 2027-28 (final year of provincial cost matching under the current NHS agreement). As a result, Ontario’s SMs and IPAs have to carefully calibrate their investments over time to manage ongoing supports while addressing additional funding demands (e.g. new rental supply). While funding remains relatively stable between 2022-23 and 2024-25 (ranging from $91.3 million in 2022-23 to $87.6 million in 2024-25) allowing SMs and IPAs to reduce funding under certain initiatives while increasing funding under others in response to local housing need. Recognizing the decline in funding over the remainder of the current NHS agreement, Ontario plans to prioritize its investments during the final 3-year action plan to address local housing need and achieve its 9-year OPHI targets.

Results to date

Similar to COCHI, Ontario has made substantive progress with respect to its OPHI targets, again exceeding several 9-year targets that were to be achieved by 2027-28.

For example, Ontario’s first 3-year NHS Action Plan set a 9-year target for the number of affordable rental units to be renovated/repaired (3,248) as well as the number of households in receipt of housing-related supports (3,949). As of March 31, 2023, Ontario had made renovations/repairs to over 30,751 affordable rental units with an additional 3,288 targeted for repair in 2023-24 and 2024-25. This outcome would exceed the existing repair target by 30,791, or 948%. In addition, by the end of 2024-25, over 25,522 households are expected to receive housing-related supports, with over 19,100 households already receiving these supports by March 31, 2023. If achieved, this total would exceed the 9-year target by 546% by the end of March 31, 2024.

Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB)

COHB increases affordability of rental housing in Ontario by providing portable housing benefits directly to households in need that are on, or eligible to be on, a social housing waiting list, and to households in financial need living in community housing.

Priority for COHB is given to survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, persons experiencing or at risk of homelessness, Indigenous persons, seniors, persons with disabilities, and households that will no longer receive housing assistance as a result of expiring social housing operating agreements/mortgages and/or federal/provincial programs.

To lessen the impacts of inflation, the COHB monthly benefit is based on a partial-gap model, which means the COHB amount is calculated as the difference between a percentage of average market rent in the applicant’s community, and 30% of the household’s monthly net income. The benefit calculation also assumes a minimum contribution towards rent by the household.

Ontario has established a range of housing and homelessness initiatives that support SMs (Service Managers) to address the unique housing needs of survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. This includes the Special Priority Policy, set out in Ontario Regulation 367/11 under the Housing Services Act, 2011, which provides priority access to rent-geared-to-income (RGI) social housing units for survivors of abuse and trafficking. Households who qualify for the Special Priority Policy and RGI assistance are placed at the top of the SM RGI waiting list above all other applicants.

Survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking are also one of the priority groups for the COHB, which can provide immediate assistance and provide recipients with the flexibility to choose where they want to live. In its 2021 Budget, the federal government announced an additional $315.4 million in funding under the Canada Housing Benefit (CHB) providing direct financial assistance for survivors of gender-based violence (SGBV) to help with paying rent. From 2023-24 to 2027-28, Ontario will cost match the additional federal COHB commitment ($97.4 million) for the SGBV stream through existing program delivery mechanisms. A provincial target of 5,479 additional households will be assisted.

Ontario’s COHB program is built from the Ontario’s Portable Housing Benefit–Special Priority Policy (PHB-SPP) program, which was piloted in 2019-20 and was targeted to survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. In 2020, the COHB program was expanded to support additional vulnerable populations (as outlined below) and the PHB-SPP households were seamlessly transitioned to the new program.

As of March 31, 2024, there were 1,777 survivors in receipt of a COHB benefit, or approximately 8% of all recipients. On average, survivors receive a monthly COHB benefit of approximately $900. Since the start of the program, approximately 2,480 survivor households have been assisted.

Due to the program’s historical focus on survivors, the new SGBV stream will be integrated with the existing Ontario COHB program, noting that the COHB currently provides a monthly subsidy directly to low-income households to assist with housing costs. Unlike other forms of housing assistance such as rent-geared-to-income (RGI) assistance, the PHB is tied to the household and not to a physical housing unit, allowing the benefit to move with the household to any Service Manager area in Ontario. As a result, recipients have more flexibility to choose where they live to be closer to family, social support networks, schools and employment opportunities.

For households, including survivor households, this approach has multiple benefits:

  • it gives people on a social housing waiting list a potential option to receive a housing benefit that would give them more flexibility and choice about where they live, so they could choose to live closer to employment, child care, schools or family
  • it may help applicants who like where they are living but face affordability challenges to remain where they live 

COHB eligibility requirements

Household members must meet certain criteria to be eligible to begin receiving a COHB benefit. These are listed below:

  • reside permanently in Ontario
  • either:
    • a Canadian citizen
    • a permanent resident
    • have made an application for status as a permanent resident under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), or have made a claim for refugee protection under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) and no removal order has become enforceable under that Act against the member
  • be on a social housing waiting list, or eligible to be on such a waiting list, or residing in community housing
  • not be in receipt of, or part of a household in receipt of, RGI assistance, more than one COHB benefit, or any other government-funded housing benefit, with the exception of social assistance shelter payments
  • consent to being removed from the social housing waiting list of the Service Manager where the application was completed and approved
  • not reside in a home suitable for year-round occupancy (within or outside Ontario) owned by a member of the household within 90 days of being determined eligible have applied for the COHB program and provided all necessary information for the calculation of the benefit

COHB delivery mechanisms

Local municipal Service Managers assist households to complete COHB applications which are sent to the Ontario Ministry of Finance (MOF) to determine eligibility.

The eligible applicants receive a monthly PHB based the Average Market Rent (AMR) of the SM area in which they reside, their rental cost, and the Adjusted Family Net Income (AFNI).

Eligible households may also receive first and last month’s rent assistance directly from Service Managers.

Results to date

To date, over 35,109 households have been supported with housing allowances provided through COHB as well as the OPHI Housing Allowance initiative.

By the end of 2027-28, the federal and Ontario governments plan to work together to provide housing allowances to over 59,438 households, including a total of 2,477 individuals and families identifying as survivors of gender-based violence under the COHB SGBV stream.

NHS reporting enhancements

Ontario is currently assessing existing reporting modules in its Transfer Payment Ontario system which is used to disburse payments and gather project-related information from its 47 SMs and 2 IPAs.

Ontario is undertaking this work with the goal of consolidating multi-year disbursement data in a more user-friendly format to allow SMs/IPAs to attest to financial information in a more timely manner.

If adopted, these proposed enhancements are expected to improve the provinces’ ability to meet existing audit and progress reporting deadlines as set forth in the NHS Bilateral Agreement while reducing reporting errors.

Deployment of these enhancements is tentatively scheduled for the 2024-25 fiscal year.