Rent Assistance Benefit Program

The Rent Assistance Benefit (RAB) is a provincial program designed for households in core housing need who have low incomes and ongoing need. The Rent Assistance Benefit (RAB) is a benefit paid directly to subsidy recipients to help make their rent with a private landlord more affordable. 

Heartland Housing Foundation is the Rent Assistance Administrator for Strathcona County, Fort Saskatchewan and Beaver County only. If you live outside of these areas, please contact 211 to find the name of your local administrating body.

All RAB recipients must sign an agreement with Heartland Housing Foundation before receiving the benefit.

You must meet all eligibility criteria under the Social Housing Accommodation Regulation. This means you must:

• Be in Core Housing Need and meet the current household income thresholds.
  See Core Housing Need and income threshold criteria here
• Have a total asset value of $25,000 or less.
• Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident (except for those who are under a private sponsorship arrangement), convention refugee, an individual who has applied for refugee or immigration status and private sponsorship has broken down.

Recipients must also live in eligible housing to receive the benefit. Eligible housing is a self-contained, rented home. This means the home has its own kitchen and bathroom and is not shared with the landlord. A recipient could live in:

• A basement suite or secondary suite as long as it has been approved by the municipality in which it is located.
• Co-operatives with a written co-operative agreement.
• Mobile home where the tenant is renting both the mobile home and the pad with a written tenancy agreement.
• Detached housing, row/townhouse, duplex or triplex, or apartments or condos with a written tenancy agreement.

A household cannot hold over $25,000 in eligible assets as defined by the Social Housing Accommodation Regulation.

• Assets included are: money in the bank, recreational vehicles, houses, property, secondary household vehicles (unless required for work).
• Assets exempted are: primary vehicle for a household; assets such as RRSPs, RESPs, RRIFs, and TFSAs. Clothing and tools .

A household is defined to include the following:

• The spouse, common-law, or adult interdependent partner
• Dependent(s) – A dependent includes a member of the household who is not self-supporting. A dependent is an individual under 25 years of age and related by blood, marriage, or adoption to another member of the household, or by virtue of an adult interdependent relationship.
• Adults co-applying for housing who are none of the above

Anyone is eligible if they meet the above criteria, however, the types of housing listed below are not suitable for the rent assistance benefit:

• Hotels, motels, and vacation rental by owner (VRBO) arrangements.
• Illegal basement/secondary suites.
• Owned mobile homes requesting supplement for the rent of the pad.
• Shared living accommodations with the landlord (your landlord is your roommate).
• Housing owned by the applicant.
• You are not eligible for RAB if you are living in subsidized housing (e.g. rent-geared-to-income housing).

Applications are evaluated first by eligibility (see previous question) and then prioritized based on factors such as:

• Number of dependents
• Rent-to-income ratio and utility responsibility
• Impacts to personal wellbeing
• Health & safety risk
• Identification as a member of a target population 

No. Eligible applicants will be placed on a prioritized waitlist. When funding for benefits is made available, the eligible applicants with the highest priority score on our waitlist will be the first to be contacted for next steps.

RAB will be offered on a point-based scoring system. Heartland Housing Foundation will offer benefits to applicants with the highest point score in the community they are applying for as funding is available. You must give Heartland Housing Foundation your banking information so direct deposit payments can be set up.

Your eligibility will be assessed every year. If you remain eligible and funding is available, you will continue to receive the benefit. There is no limit to the number of times your RAB agreement can be renewed, subject to funding availability.

Your landlord will be the individual or organization with whom you have a tenancy agreement. Heartland Housing Foundation is not the landlord. Your agreement with Heartland Housing Foundation is just for the rental assistance benefit.

Our rent assistance programs are not emergency funds. If you have urgent housing stability concerns, you should contact your local Family & Community  Support Services team, for support, or call 211.

Beaver County Family & Community Services

Fort Saskatchewan Family & Community Services

STRATHCONA COUNTY FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES

Please contact our office if you have any more questions about RAB. 

Email Us
Phone: (780) 400-3500