1. SUMMARY

The COHB is a federal-provincial housing allowance program launching on April 1, 2020. The program is jointly funded through the CMHC-Ontario Bilateral Agreement under the 2017 National Housing Strategy and is provincially delivered.

The purpose of the COHB program is to increase the affordability of rental housing by providing an income-tested, portable housing benefit (PHB) payment directly to eligible households in housing need that are on, or are eligible to be on, social housing waiting lists and to households in housing need living in community housing.

Ontario’s – The COHB program is modelled on Portable Housing Benefit Special Priority Policy (PHB- SPP), which it replaces. PHB-SPP was targeted to survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, while the COHB program expands the target groups to also include persons experiencing or at risk of homelessness, Indigenous persons, seniors, and people with disabilities, as well as households living in community housing.

Service Managers identify households who may be eligible and assist with the application submission, while the Ministry of Finance confirms eligibility and issues payments directly to households. The monthly calculated using the household’s payment amount is generally net income as determined using relevant tax information. ServiceOntario is the ongoing point of contact for households in the program for inquiries and to report changes.

Service Managers are provided with annual planning allocation amounts for PHB payments to successful applicants, administration costs, and reimbursement of first and last month’s rent payments to eligible households, for each fiscal year.

The province retains COHB funding each fiscal year for payments to households approved in previous fiscal years who continue to be eligible at annual renewals.

Overview of the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit: