Affordable Housing Grant Pilot Program

Affordable Housing Grant Graphic

The Affordable Housing Pilot Grant Program is a funding program intended to stimulate the construction and accelerate the delivery of new affordable housing in our community.

These housing incentives can help address feasibility challenges while ensuring that public investment is directed toward projects delivering measurable community benefit. By implementing two separate grant categories, the City of West Kelowna can offer development relief to a variety of projects, from early-stage concept development and planning analysis to larger-scale funding for shovel-ready projects.

The two grant streams include:

Pre-Development Grant
Housing Delivery Grant, which includes two Tiers

The Pre-Development Grant Stream

The Pre-Development Grant Stream supports early-stage planning and design work for eligible non-market housing projects (not-for-profit rental or affordable homeownership [AHO], or co-operative housing). Up to $50,000 in funding per project may be used for pre-development activities such as development consulting, architectural and engineering design, feasibility studies, technical studies, and related work needed to prepare a rezoning, development, and/or building permit application.

The Pre-Development Grant provides one-time funding to eligible applicants that include a minimum of 20% affordable housing units in their development and commit to securing those units for 60 years.

The Housing Delivery Grant Stream

The Housing Delivery Grant Stream provides per door funding for non-market and market rental housing projects that will deliver secured affordable housing units and are ready to proceed to construction. This pilot is intended to help offset project costs such as Development Cost Charge (DCC) and permit application fees, thereby improving project viability, and encouraging the inclusion of secured affordable housing. The grant includes two funding tiers based on applicant type, affordability, and the length of time affordability is secured.

Housing Delivery Grant (Tier1)

Tier 1 funding is available to eligible for-profit market rental and non-market (not-for-profit rental and Affordable Home Ownership, and co-operative) housing projects that secure affordable units, with rents set at a minimum of 10% below CMHC average market rents, for a minimum of 10 years.

Funding is provided on a per-unit basis: $5,000 per studio, $10,000 per one-bedroom affordable unit, and $15,000 per two-bedroom or larger affordable unit, up to a maximum of $250,000 per project. This funding stream is intended to improve project feasibility and encourage the inclusion of affordable, family-oriented housing within new residential developments.

Housing Delivery Grant (Tier 2)

Tier 2 funding provides enhanced funding for eligible non-market housing providers (not-for-profit rental or AHO, or co-operative).

This tier provides the highest level of municipal support for 100% non-market housing developments, with rents at a minimum of 20% below CMHC average market rents in West Kelowna. Affordable units must be secured through a Housing Agreement for a minimum of 60 years, or the life of the building, whichever is greater.

Funding is provided on a per-unit basis: $10,000 per eligible studio, $15,000 per one-bedroom affordable unit, and $20,000 per eligible two-bedroom or larger affordable unit, up to a maximum grant of $350,000 per project.

Application dates

Applications to the program can be submitted from Sept. 28, 2026, until Dec. 17th, 2027, or until funding is committed/used, whichever comes first. The Pre-Development Grant Stream has a budget of $200,000, and the Housing Delivery Grant Stream has a budget of $1,000,000. Applications will be reviewed within the calendar month they are submitted, and applicants will be notified if they are approved for funding within 14 days from the first day of the next month.

Program resources

For this program, Affordable Housing is defined as secured housing units that offer monthly housing charges/rents at or below a 10-20% discount to CMHC average market rent for West Kelowna.

For more details on each grant stream, including eligibility criteria, affordability requirements, grant amounts, or more, please view program bulletins and forms.

If you have questions, please contact Angele Clarke at angele.clarke@westkelownacity.ca.