Burlington's housing incentive programs: what is open, who qualifies and how to apply

What the plan is

A community improvement plan is a tool in Ontario's Planning Act that lets a municipality offer grants, loans and other financial incentives inside a designated area. Burlington's Council designated a project area covering the City's Official Plan Urban Area and adopted its Affordable Rental Housing Community Improvement Plan on April 15, 2025, by By-law 23-2025. The City now calls it the Burlington Housing Community Improvement Plan.

Council amended the plan on May 26, 2026, adding five temporary incentive programs. The plan says it is expected to be implemented over ten years, ending in March 2035, and that Council may extend or shorten that period depending on an approved budget. The incentive types in the plan are grants, forgivable loans, municipal fee waivers, development charge help and brownfield tax help.

What is open and what has closed

The pages the newsroom reviewed do not state how much funding remains in the temporary programs. The City says applications are accepted only while funding is available and that it may approve, deny, limit, prioritize or discontinue applications and funding at its discretion.

The five temporary programs

Who qualifies

• The property is inside the plan's Community Improvement Project Area, which follows the Official Plan's Urban Area. The City says to contact it to confirm the current boundary.
• The units are new, subject to residential development charges, and in a townhouse, multi-residential or mixed-use multi-residential development. Single-detached, semi-detached and duplex homes and additional residential units are not eligible, and only the residential portion of a project counts.
• The applicant is the registered or assessed owner, including a non-profit that owns the property, with no outstanding property tax, City or utility arrears.
• Costs incurred before the temporary programs were adopted are not eligible, and incentives cannot exceed eligible costs, even when programs are combined.
• The City may require a legal agreement, including a charge on title, to secure conditions such as an affordability period.

Timing rules apply. A project of more than ten units applies only after receiving site plan approval; a project of ten units or fewer applies after submitting a building permit application. Missing middle projects (up to four storeys) need an occupancy permit by December 31, 2027. Buildings of five storeys or more need a foundation permit by December 31, 2026 and an above-grade building permit by December 31, 2027. The plan allows limited extensions at the discretion of the Director of Community Planning.

The closed additional-unit program

The ARU Incentive Program, funded from the Housing Accelerator Fund, offered fee waivers of up to 100% of eligible City fees for homeowners and non-profits, an interest-free forgivable loan of up to $70,000 for an interior, attached or garage-conversion unit or up to $95,000 for a detached unit, and a one-time grant of up to $15,000 to legalize a non-compliant unit. The loan became a grant if the unit stayed affordable for ten years. The City's page records the program as closed, and says fee waivers were listed as available until December 31, 2025. The City's page links an ARU look-up tool, a garage conversion toolkit and a Steps to Build an ARU guide for owners planning a unit without an incentive.

The funding behind it

The City's incentives draw on the Housing Accelerator Fund, a $21 million agreement between the Government of Canada and the City announced on January 15, 2024. The City committed to targets due December 31, 2026: 2,724 new residential units, including 1,294 multi-unit and 1,047 missing middle homes, and 8.4% of supply growth (228 units) as affordable. The City's Housing Accelerator Fund page has no entry later than May 12, 2025 and does not report progress against these targets.

What happens next and where to check

• December 31, 2026: the Housing Accelerator Fund target date, and the foundation-permit deadline for buildings of five storeys or more.
• December 31, 2027: the last day for temporary program applications, and the occupancy and above-grade permit deadlines.
• Program terms, funding and dates: the City's Temporary Incentive Programs page, and TempCIP@Burlington.ca.
• The plan itself, including Appendix B on eligibility criteria: the Burlington Housing Community Improvement Plan on burlington.ca.
• General housing questions: the Housing Connections Centre, housingstrategy@burlington.ca or 905-335-7777.