Who was eligible to apply
Status: Closed
Review the eligibility criteria for the one-time payment.
On this page
- Eligibility criteria
- Impacts on taxes and other benefits
- If you have not received your payment yet
- Verifying your eligibility
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible for the one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit, you must have met the following criteria:
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What was a principal residence
For this benefit, your principal residence was the place where you normally lived and paid rent in 2022.
This could have been any abode, dwelling or other place rented. Examples of principal residence included a house, cottage, condominium, apartment in an apartment building, apartment in a duplex, college or university residence, trailer, mobile home, or houseboat.
Generally, you would have had only one principal residence at a time, unless you were living apart from a spouse or common-law partner.
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Determine if you were a resident of Canada for tax purposes
You were not eligible for this one-time payment if you were considered a non-resident of Canada in 2022.
You were a non-resident of Canada in 2022 for income tax purposes if any of the following were true:
- you normally, customarily, or routinely lived in another country during 2022 and were not considered a resident of Canada
- you did not have significant residential ties in Canada and any of the following applied:
- you lived outside Canada throughout 2022
- you stayed in Canada for less than 183 days in 2022
Read more about determining your residency status.
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If you were not a resident of Canada during 2021
You must have submitted a statement of income by March 31, 2023 to have met the income reporting requirement.
You could have submitted a statement of income if you applied for either the Canada Child Benefit or the GST/HST Credit and Climate Action Incentive Payment.
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What was considered a family or individual
Individual
If none of the criteria for family (shown below) applied to you, then you were considered an individual.
If you separated on or before December 1, 2022 due to a breakdown in your relationship:
- you would have been considered an individual if you waited 90 days after your separation began before you applied
- you would have been considered a family if you applied before 90 days had passed after your separation began
Family
You were considered a family if any of the following applied:
- you were married or living common-law and you had not been separated because of a breakdown of your marriage or common-law partnership, for a period of at least 90 days on December 1, 2022
- you were receiving the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) for a child under 18 years of age on December 1, 2022
- you claimed a deduction under line 30400 of your 2021 income tax return for any of the following:
- your parent or grandparent
- your child, grandchild, or sibling under 18 years of age
- your child, grandchild, or sibling 18 years of age or older with impairment in physical or mental functions
If none of the criteria for family applied to you, then you were considered an individual.
How your adjusted family net income was calculated
The CRA calculated your adjusted family net income for this benefit based on your 2021 income information.
You can answer a few questions to estimate your adjusted family net income and rent.
You needed all the above to be eligible
If you did not meet all the above criteria, you were not eligible to apply for the one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit.
If you applied and received a payment that you were not eligible for, find out how to return the payment.
Note: The applicant had to be alive on the date their application for the one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit was made.
Impacts on taxes and other benefits
The payment was not taxable. This means you will not need to report the one-time payment on your income tax return.
The one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit does not reduce other federal income-tested benefits such as the Canada Workers Benefit, Canada Child Benefit, Goods and Services Tax Credit, and Guaranteed Income Supplement. Impacts on provincial or territorial benefits were determined at the discretion of each province or territory.
To apply for this new federal one-time payment, you did not need to receive other housing benefits such as the Canada Housing Benefit (a benefit co-funded and delivered by the provinces and territories).
If you have not received your payment yet
Depending on how you applied, it may take longer to process your application and send your payment.
Average times to receive payment
- Direct deposit
- Direct deposit takes about 5 to 7 business days.
- By mail
- A mailed cheque should arrive in about 10 to 12 business days.
Verifying your eligibility
Keep your records and receipts to support the amounts in your application. The CRA routinely checks to confirm that recipients were entitled to the payment they received.
If your application is selected for review, the CRA may ask you to provide additional information.
If you have received a payment and are later found to be ineligible, you will be contacted to make arrangements to return the payment. If you are found to have misrepresented or concealed information to make a fraudulent claim, additional consequences and penalties may also be applied.
You can report suspected misuse through the CRA's Leads program.
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