Per Door Grant Program

2025 Funding

The 2025 Per Door Grant intake period ran from April 7 until May 15 at 11:59pm. Staff are reviewing all applications received by the deadline. 

Up to $5 Million in total funding is available to award to successful applicants during the 2025 intake period. Per Door Grant funding is awarded on a competitive basis and is not guaranteed.

The City recognizes that each organization has different funding requirements to bring new long-term rental units to market or to include affordable housing units for middle and low-income households as part of its development, based on numerous factors such as size, scale, location and project details. For this reason, rather than setting a fixed grant amount, applicants are responsible for determining a reasonable amount of incentive per unit that will be required for their project, taking into consideration requirements such as depth and duration of affordability, unit mix and type of development. 

Applicants must justify the incentive amount requested, and City staff use that to determine if it is reasonably tied to the affordability provided, length of affordability, and the total number of new housing units that will be created.

Grant money can be used towards any eligible project development costs, but cannot exceed total costs of development or redevelopment, or be used towards operational costs. If awarded a grant, an agreement between the City and the owner (registered or assessed owners of lands/buildings) will be required, which will set out the terms, duration, and default provisions of the grant provided; this will be registered on title of the subject lands.

Eligibility

Per Door Grant funding is awarded on a competitive basis and is not guaranteed. Applicants that do not meet all the eligibility criteria in Sections 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 of the Housing CIP are not eligible for Per Door Grant funding. Please read and review the Housing CIP before applying to confirm your understanding of the Housing CIP and that your project meets all eligibility criteria. 

The Per Door Grant Application Guidelines provide a detailed summary of the general and specific eligibility criteria; please note that there are different eligibility requirements for applications submitted by non-profit or charitable organizations and for-profit/market developers. Please refer to the guidelines for full eligibility requirements. Key criteria: 

1. This program is available to both nonprofit and charitable organizations, and market/for-profit housing developers, or partnerships between them.
2. The project must be new construction resulting in the following minimum number of new units:
   
   a. Non-profit/charitable organizations: One (1) new affordable housing unit, or an increase in capacity for shared/co-living arrangements.
   
   b. For-profit/market developers: Medium or high-density residential development that either includes affordable housing units, or purpose-built rental housing.
3. Projects must have submitted a complete Site Plan Control application, if applicable, and be committed to moving through the approvals process quickly.
4. Projects can be under construction but must not have been issued an Occupancy Permit by Building Services. 
5. The property owner must agree to enter into an agreement with the City of Barrie respecting the terms, duration, and default provisions of the incentive(s) to be provided.
6. Affordable housing units provided must meet the affordable rent or ownership criteria established in the most current Development Services Housing Bulletin. Affordable units must remain affordable for a minimum of 25 years following initial occupancy.
7. The property under consideration shall not be in a position of property tax arrears.
8. Proposed development must meet or exceed the City’s Official Plan density requirements.
9. Applicants must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the City of Barrie, that there are adequate and available municipal services (i.e. including sewer, water, and storm water) and utilities with appropriate capacity to service the proposed development.
10. Project sites must be located in the City of Barrie and shall not be located on lands subject to flooding hazards, erosion hazards, including wetlands. 

All applications will be scored using the Per Door Grant Score Card. These scores will be used in conjunction with the submitted project details, explaining the amount of funding requested. Please review the score card for details regarding the maximum number of points available under each scored criteria.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted during the application intake period. The 2025 intake period closed on May 15 at 11:59pm. The Per Door Grant Application Guidelines remain available for reference.

Application Review & Awarding of Grants

The application review process for Per Door Grants is outlined in Section 3.3.4 of the Housing CIP and also outlined below.

1. Applications and supporting documentation will be reviewed by Development Services staff as received to ensure they are complete and meet eligibility requirements. If applications are incomplete, missing supporting documentation, or basic eligibility requirements are not met or cannot be confirmed, staff will contact the applicant via email so they can correct or submit the additional information. Similarly, applicants will be informed if their application is acceptable for review and consideration. 
2. Once the application intake period has ended, all accepted applications will be reviewed by Development Services staff, and will be scored using an evaluation score card. While reviewing applications, staff may request clarification or additional supporting documentation and may perform site visits and inspections as necessary. Development Services staff reserve the right to negotiate the requested funding amount with applicants as deemed necessary, based on project merit or funding limitations.
3. Development Services staff will provide all score cards and make written recommendations of grant approvals to an interdepartmental Grants Review Group. The Grants Review Group, comprised of members of the Executive Management Team, will make the final decisions on the allocation of grants, including the amount of funding provided. Grants may be awarded for a lesser amount than what was applied for based on merit or limited funding. If staff are making a funding recommendation for an amount other than what was applied for the applicant may be contacted beforehand.
4. Applicants will be notified if their applications have been awarded CIP funding or not and instructed on next steps for accessing grant money. Successful applicants will be required to enter into an agreement with the City of Barrie outlining the amount to be paid by the City, the payment period, and any other applicable terms and conditions. Per Door Grants are paid in installments tied to key construction milestones, with the final payment released after a final Occupancy Permit is granted. Non-profit and charitable organizations will receive 50% of the grant once their agreement has been executed and registered on title. See Section 4.3 of the Housing CIP for more information. 

All successful applicants will work with Legal Services to finalize and register the necessary legal agreement(s). Please review the Standard Housing CIP Per Door Grant Agreement. Agreements identify required construction timelines to ensure that projects receiving a Per Door Grant are committed to moving forward with their projects expeditiously. Agreements will also identify annual reporting requirements for affordable housing units.

The City may discontinue or rescind any financial incentive, plus interest, where there is not compliance with an executed agreement, including reporting requirements to ensure affordability is maintained per the agreement. Unsuccessful applicants can request a debrief meeting with Development Services staff to better understand why their application was not successful.