Community Improvement Plan (CIP)

The Façade and Structural Improvement Grant Program encourages the restoration and rehabilitation of street-facing exteriors of buildings within the City's Downtown & Harbour Area or any building with a heritage designation within the City boundaries.

This program offers grants to eligible property owners and authorized tenants to improve the façade of the building to fit the original design. The program also offers grants to complete structural improvements for the safety or integrity of the structure.

Read our Façade & Structural Improvement Program Guidelines for more information.

The Accessibility Improvement Grant Program promotes improvements to properties for the purposes of enhancing accessibility in the built environment. It is intended that any improvements considered under this program will meet or exceed the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and the Ontario Building Code.

This program offers grants to eligible property owners and authorized tenants of commercial, industrial, mixed-use, and multi-unit residential properties within the municipal boundary of the City. The program also offers grants to buildings within the Downtown for interior accessibility improvements.

Read our Accessibility Improvement Grant Program Guidelines for more information.

The Start-up Space Leasehold Improvement Grant Program assists new businesses and start-up companies with permanent leasehold improvements to commercial or mixed-use spaces that increase the marketability of the property and commercial rental units.

This program offers grants to eligible property owners and authorized tenants within a commercial or mixed-use building within the City's Downtown.

Read our Start-up Space Leasehold Improvement Grant Program Guidelines for more information.

The Landscaping & Property Improvement Grant Program encourages property owners and tenants of land to improve their properties, including parking areas, through the installation of appropriate landscaping, fencing, exterior lighting, pedestrian connections, street furniture, and patios.

This program offers grants to eligible property owners and authorized tenants of existing commercial, industrial, mixed-use, and multi-unit residential properties, as defined by the City's CIP. New infill mixed-use and multi-unit residential development that satisfies the definition of Affordable/Attainable Housing and the redevelopment of remediation of a Brownfield or Greyfield property, as defined by the City's CIP, will also be considered eligible.

Read our Landscaping and Property Improvement Guidelines for more information.

The Vacant Building Conversion & Expansion Grant Program assists in the conversion of existing vacant space into a new or more suitable commercial use or a mixed use, as defined by the City's CIP.

This program offers grants to eligible property owners and authorized tenants of existing commercial, industrial, mixed-use, and multi-unit residential properties, as defined by the City's CIP, within the City's River District, East Harbour Planning Area, and West Harbour Planning Area.

Read our Vacant Building Conversion & Expansion Grant Program Guidelines for more information.

The Brownfields Tax Incentive is intended to promote environmental cleanup and rehabilitation of vacant or underused lands which may be contaminated from their former use.

The Vacant Lands Tax Assistance Program is intended to promote redevelopment of vacant land in the Downtown and Harbour Area.

For help on applying to the Brownfields Tax Incentive or Vacant Lands Tax Assistance Program, read our Brownfields Financial Tax Incentive & Vacant Lands Tax Assistance Program Application.