Sustainable Affordable Housing

About the SAH offer

GMF offers pre-construction study grants to support affordable housing providers in Canada who are seeking to undertake deep energy retrofits of existing affordable housing units to reduce their GHG emissions and improve residents’ comfort, affordability and cost certainty.

There are two grants available:

• One-time retrofit study: This funding covers a wide range of activities in the pre-construction stages of one-time deep energy retrofits.
• Retrofit pathway study: This funding positions recipients with a more flexible plan to implement energy efficiency measures over longer timeframes.

In addition to these funding options, SAH continues to offer a range of no-cost supports to help housing providers plan for impact:

• Connect with one of our Regional Energy Coaches (RECs) for help with project planning, funding strategies, and energy efficiency education.
• Read our application guide for details.
• Visit our resource library for a curated list of educational tools.
• Explore our funders list to connect with other sources of funding beyond SAH.

Results and reach

Since 2020, SAH has:

• funded over 400 projects, supporting more than 3,700 affordable units
• enabled planning and study work on more than 31,000 additional units
• achieved average GHG reductions of 70% and energy savings of 47% per project
• delivered up to $200/month in utility savings for some tenants
• supported small providers; more than 75% of approved projects came from organizations with portfolios under 100 units

Stay connected

We’re proud of what the SAH program has achieved, and we remain committed to helping you build on that success. To receive updates as the next phase of SAH takes shape, we encourage you to stay connected through the SAH webpage, and to reach out to a Regional Energy Coach if you need support.