September 22, 2026
The federal government is moving forward with a $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund (CRPF) designed to help preserve existing affordable rental housing and expand community ownership across Canada.
Build Canada Homes (BCH), the federal Crown corporation focused on increasing affordable housing supply, announced that the Canadian Housing Acquisition Fund (CHAF) has been selected through an open application process to deploy investments from the fund.
The initiative could help protect 7,000 at-risk rental homes during its first five years, with the potential to preserve additional housing as capital is repaid and reinvested.
The Canada Rental Protection Fund is designed to help community housing providers acquire and renew existing rental properties before affordable units are lost from the market.
Rather than focusing exclusively on new housing construction, the program addresses another component of Canada’s housing challenge: protecting rental homes that already exist.
Through the fund, eligible community housing organizations will be able to pursue acquisitions and renew properties while maintaining long-term affordability.
The $1.5 billion federal commitment is also intended to attract additional capital from charitable organizations, private investors and other levels of government.
Because repaid capital can be reinvested in future acquisitions, the government intends the program to operate as a revolving source of funding.
Following a competitive process, CHAF was selected to receive and manage the federal investment, while Build Canada Homes will provide stewardship and oversight.
CHAF’s founding members include the Canadian Housing Renewal Association, National Indigenous Collaborative Housing Inc., Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada and BC Rental Protection Fund.
The organizations bring experience in community housing and rental-property acquisition to the national program.
CHAF has now launched an online intake portal and organizational pre-qualification process for eligible community housing providers.
The federal government estimates that the Canada Rental Protection Fund has the potential to preserve 7,000 at-risk rental homes over its first five years.
The actual number will depend on market conditions and the availability of suitable properties for acquisition.
Once properties are acquired by community housing providers, the objective is to keep those homes within Canada’s community housing stock over the long term.
This approach is intended to prevent the loss of existing affordable rental units while strengthening the capacity of Canada’s non-profit, co-operative and community housing sectors.
The Rental Protection Fund forms part of the broader mandate of Build Canada Homes.
While other federal housing initiatives focus on increasing the supply of new homes, the CRPF is specifically intended to preserve existing affordable rental housing.
That distinction is significant because increasing housing supply and preventing the loss of existing affordable units address different parts of Canada’s housing affordability challenge.
The fund was initially established through Budget 2024, with the $1.5 billion federal investment structured to mobilize additional public, private and charitable capital.
Eligible community housing providers can now begin the CHAF pre-qualification and intake process.
Program information will outline affordability requirements, organizational eligibility, documentation, application procedures and intake timelines.
If implemented as intended, the revolving investment model could allow the initial federal capital to support additional acquisitions as funds are repaid and redeployed.
For Canada’s housing and construction sectors, the initiative also highlights the growing role of acquisition, renovation and renewal alongside new construction in addressing housing affordability.
By protecting existing rental properties while other programs seek to increase supply, the federal government is pursuing a combined strategy of preserving current affordable housing and adding new homes to Canada’s housing stock.
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