***Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation***
               Homeowners and Landlords
Residential Rehabilitation Assistance program For Persons
                  with Disabilities
         (RRAP for Persons with Disabilities)

What is RRAP Program for Persons with Disabilities?

The Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP) for 
Persons with Disabilities offers financial assistance to 
allow homeowners and landlords to improve their dwellings so 
that they are more accessible to persons with disabilities. 

1. Financial help to modify your property. If you are a 
landlord who rents out self-contained units to low-income 
tenants or rooms in a rooming housing and the rents are 
below specified levels.

2. Or if you own a home whose value is below a specified 
figure and your total household income is low;

3. And you wish to modify your dwelling to make it livable 
for persons with disabilities

YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE TO RRAP FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

What modifications can be done?

Modifications must be related to housing and reasonably 
related to the occupant's disability. Most modifications 
that make it easier for the occupant with disabilities to 
live independently are eligible for funding. These include 
items such as a ramp, chair lift, bathtub life or wheel-in 
shower, suitable height adjustments to kitchen work space 
and cupboards, and handrails.Therapeutic items, such as 
portable equipment designed for mobility purposes or care 
and most household appliances, are not eligible for 
funding.Modifications carried out before the RRAP for 
persons with Disabilities loan is approved are not eligible 
for funding.How much financial assistance may you 
receive?The maximum loan amount you may receive depends on 
where your property is located. In most areas, $18,000.00 is 
the maximum loan available.  Higher assistance levels may be 
available in the northern areas of Canada and in remote 
areas where modifications costs are higher.How much of the 
loan may be forgiven?

For Homeowners: 

Depending on your income, up to $12,000.00 may be forgivable 
and not have to be paid back. The actual amount of 
forgivable assistance that you will receive is based on your 
household income, the cost of the modifications and where 
you live. To be eligible for forgiveness, you will also have 
to agree to continue to own and occupy your home for up to 
five years.

For Landlords: 

A fully forgivable loan of up to $18,000 is available to 
cover the cost of eligible modifications on self-contained 
and rooming house units occupied or to be occupied by 
persons with disabilities. In the case of the self-contained 
units, the incomes of the tenants must be below levels 
defined for the program. Landlords must enter into an 
agreement stating that the units will continue to be 
affordable to persons with disabilities whose incomes are at 
or below established ceilings.

Further Information under other RRAP programs, assistance is 
available to landlords owing self-contained rental units or 
rooming houses, and low-income income homeowners who wish to 
make major repairs to their dwellings.

To learn more about these assistance programs contact Canada 
Mortgage and Housing corporation at 1007 Fort Street, 
Victoria, B.C. V8R 6N3 363-3103; Fax: 363-3935.

Or: Contact Michael Creurer, coordinator of the Action 
Committee's "Consumer Consulting Group on Accessibility": 
383-4105.