Select Toronto neighbourhoods eligible for new HELP financing tool
Homeowners from the city’s east end are among the first in Toronto to be offered a chance to benefit from the city’s Home Energy Loan Program (HELP), a new municipal home efficiency program.
Homeowners from the city’s east end are among the first in Toronto to be offered a chance to benefit from the city’s Home Energy Loan Program (HELP), a new municipal home efficiency program.
This new initiative, which offers low-interest loans (2.5 per cent) to qualifying homeowners interested in improving the energy and water efficiency of their home like upgrading insulation or replacing an old furnace, air conditioner, water heater, windows, doors, and even toilets, is currently being offered as a pilot program to single-family residences in the following areas of the city by postal code: M3N (Black Creek), M4E, M4L, M4M, M4J, M1N, M4C, M4K and M5A (Toronto Centre/Riverdale/Beach), M6P and M6S (Junction/High Park), and M1M, M1E, M1C, M1L, M1K and M4B (South Scarborough).
The pilot program will run for three years.
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Additional postal code areas will become eligible to participate in the future.
Homeowners may qualify for a low-interest loan through HELP if they own a detached, semi-detached, row or mobile home; all of the property owners on title consent to the program; your property tax and utility payments to the City are in good standing; and they obtain written consent from their mortgage lender, if applicable.
The idea is that the potential cost savings from the retrofit will offset the cost of the monthly repayments to the City.
Through the HELP program, the City provides the funding needed to complete improvements, while the homeowner is responsible for repaying the city in a period up to 15 years through installments on their property tax bill.
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Homeowners can pay off their loan at any time without penalty.
The unique part of the program, which is the result of a July 2013 decision by Toronto City council where $20 million in funds were allocated to water and energy efficiency improvements to private residential properties, is that the loan isn’t attached to the individual but the property meaning it transfers to the new owner(s) when/if a property changes hands.
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