Ottawa is drafting a new program to enable Canadian households to make green home upgrades that lower their energy bills and carbon footprints.
The Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program will make $800 million in funding available to low- to median-income Canadians — including tenants in some cases — and Indigenous communities.
“This is a big step towards reaching our sustainability goals and creating a better future for everyone,” said Minister of Justice Arif Virani in a July 16 press release. “It ensures that all of us can live in homes that are safe, affordable, and environmentally friendly.”
Under the program, households will be eligible to receive up to $20,000 in government funding to upgrade heat pumps, insulation, windows, doors and ventilation systems.
The program is currently in the design phase and is in negotiations with “provinces, territories, and co-delivery partners regarding key details,” said Bruce Blackie, a media relations spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada, in an emailed statement.
The program will replace the previous Canada Greener Homes Grant, which was capped at $5,000 for each household. That program has so far funded green retrofits for 240,000 homeowners, according to the government’s press release, and offered an average grant of $4,400 per household. That puts the program’s cost-to-date at about $1 billion.
While other similar programs, like the Canada Greener Homes Loan, have funded home upgrades across the income spectrum, “the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program is being specifically designed for low- to median-income Canadians, who can often not afford the upfront costs of retrofit activities,” said Blackie.
Key program details, such as which households qualify as low- to median-income or how funding will be distributed, have not yet been established, he said.
No charge to participants
Canadians spend an average of $2,200 a year on home energy costs, according to the government’s press release. The release says “these costs are significantly higher in homes that heat with oil and in older homes with poor insulation, ventilation, and heating/cooling systems.”
According to the release, Ottawa estimates households who received upgrades to their home through the grant saved an average of nearly $400 on their annual energy bills and reduced their household emissions by 1.18 tonnes every year.
“As of June 8, 2024, retrofits from the Canada Greener Homes Grant alone are removing over 306,540 metric tonnes of GHG emissions, equivalent to taking nearly 94,000 fossil fueled powered vehicles off the road,” the release said.
The new program differs from the prior program in that it will come at no charge to participating households and the home installations will be managed by third-party professionals. Households will also not be “responsible for completing paperwork, scheduling contractors, or managing financial transactions associated with the work,” said Blackie.
The provinces and territories will assign officials responsible for overseeing the program and managing energy assessments of households to recommend green upgrades. To avoid the potential for conflicts of interest, Blackie said the officials responsible for conducting the energy assessments will not be the same individuals who install the upgrades.
The program falls under the umbrella of Ottawa’s Canada Green Buildings Strategy, which aims to grow Canada’s clean energy market and achieve the country’s net-zero commitments by 2050. The strategy is funded as part of Budget 2024.
