What disqualifies you from Housing Repair and Accessibility Program?

Work started before the department approves it in writing. More than $25,000 in investment assets. A property worth more than $360,000 in the Halifax Regional Municipality or East Hants, or $280,000 elsewhere. A home under five years old, or one you have owned and lived in for less than a year.

Where do you apply for Housing Repair and Accessibility Program?

Repairs: https://www.novascotia.ca/apply-help-home-repairs-housing-repair-and-accessibility-program; Accessibility changes: https://www.novascotia.ca/apply-help-accessibility-adaptations-housing-repair-and-accessibility-program.

Fix First Home › Nova Scotia › Housing Repair and Accessibility Program

Housing Repair and Accessibility Program open

Administered by the Province of Nova Scotia, Department of Growth, Development and Defence Industries.

Nova Scotia's repair money for low- and moderate-income homeowners: up to $18,000 for emergency and health and safety repairs to the structure, wiring, plumbing or heating, or for accessibility changes, as a $10,000 grant and an $8,000 forgivable loan. Larger jobs can add a $20,000 repayable loan, and everything except emergencies goes on a waitlist.

source · verified 27 September 2026

What it pays

The three kinds of money
Kind	How it works	Up to
Grant	Kept. Paid straight to your contractors against the quotes the department approved.	$10,000
Forgivable loan	You sign a promissory note, and the loan is forgiven month by month over its term as long as you meet its conditions.	$8,000
Repayable loan	Only when the work costs more than the grant and forgivable loan together. A credit check (a score of 600 or higher), a mortgage registered on the home, house insurance, and payments at least monthly.	$20,000

Repairs it pays for

Structural: collapsing or badly damaged walls, ceilings or floors, a roof leak doing real damage inside, a failing foundation, broken support beams
Electrical: faulty or sparking wiring, a failed or overloaded panel, fire hazards
Plumbing: burst pipes, sewage backing up, no running water
Heating: a main heating system that has failed in cold weather, gas leaks, blocked chimneys, an unsafe furnace or boiler; an oil tank only if the oil company will not deliver or your insurer requires it

Repairs it will not pay for

Anything under $1,000
Insulation, and drafty or damaged windows and doors
A heat pump, unless it replaces a main heat source that has failed and costs less than fixing it
Adding, repairing or replacing a secondary heat source, or a 200-amp electrical upgrade
Mould, mildew and asbestos, siding, shingles that are not leaking, decks and cosmetic work

The accessibility side pays the same way, $10,000 as a grant, $8,000 as a forgivable loan and up to $20,000 more as a repayable loan, for permanent changes that address a household member's disability or reduced ability: ramps, wider doorways, exterior chair lifts, accessible bathrooms and kitchens. Changes that let you get into your home are treated as emergencies.

Who is eligible

Who can apply

You own the home and have lived in it for at least a year, and it is your principal residence
The house is at least five years old: a detached house, semi, row house, the inside of a condo, or a mobile home you own
Your household's gross income is at or under the line below
No more than $25,000 in investments
No repair grant in the last five years, and no repair loan in the last fifteen, unless the repair is an emergency
Property taxes paid, or on a payment plan for at least three months
The property is worth no more than $360,000 in the Halifax Regional Municipality and East Hants, or $280,000 anywhere else. If you own more than one property, their values are added together.

Household income limits, by the number of bedrooms your household needs
Region	1 bedroom	2 bedrooms	3 or more
Cape Breton Island	$62,500	$73,000	$84,500
Guysborough, Antigonish, Pictou, Cumberland and Colchester	$62,500	$73,000	$84,500
Halifax Regional Municipality and East Hants	$59,000	$71,000	$80,000
Annapolis, Kings, Digby, Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens, Lunenburg and West Hants	$62,500	$73,000	$84,500

The bedroom count is the number your household needs under the National Occupancy Standard, not the number the house has. The guide's own example: a senior couple on Cape Breton Island whose children have left the three-bedroom family home is tested against the one-bedroom line, $62,500.

What disqualifies you

The rules people find out about after the work is done.

Work started before the department approves it in writing.
More than $25,000 in investment assets.
A property worth more than $360,000 in the Halifax Regional Municipality or East Hants, or $280,000 elsewhere.
A home under five years old, or one you have owned and lived in for less than a year.

Where the application goes

A paper application, by mail or at a regional housing office. An inspector visits, gives you a bid package to get quotes against, and the department pays the contractors directly.

Where the application goes
If this is you	Apply here
Repairs	novascotia.ca
Accessibility changes	novascotia.ca

The thing most pages get wrong

It is not a heat pump programme. The guide lists heat pumps as ineligible unless one is replacing a main heat source that has failed, a furnace that no longer works, and costs less than the repair, and you need your insurer's written word that a heat pump as main heat is covered. Insulation and drafty windows are excluded outright. For those, Nova Scotia's routes are HomeWarming and the Moderate Income Rebate.

There is a waitlist, and the application page does not say so

The province's Housing Repair Guide says: "Due to high demand there is a waitlist for Housing Repair." Emergencies, like no heat in winter or no water, are reviewed in 1 to 3 days. Other repairs take 3 to 12 months to approve, and an eligible application waits its turn before the inspection is even booked.