Search for Alberta home buyer grants and you will find long lists. Read them closely and most of the list falls away. Several entries are loans secured against the home rather than money you keep. Several are open only to people who already own. One is closed to new applications. One shut down entirely two years ago and still appears on pages that were never updated.
This article covers the provincial and Calgary programs, what each one actually pays, and who it is genuinely for. The federal programs that matter most to a first-time buyer, the FHSA, the Home Buyers' Plan, the Home Buyers' Amount and the two GST rebates, are covered in detail in their own articles and are not repeated here.
One thing worth saying at the outset, because it saves time. Alberta does not have a provincial down payment grant. There is no provincial equivalent of the first-time buyer assistance that exists in some other provinces. The provincial programs on this list are repair, adaptation and tax-deferral programs aimed at seniors and at people with accessibility needs. If you are a first-time buyer looking for help with a down payment in Alberta, the useful programs are federal, and one municipal program in Calgary comes close.
What is actually federal, and where to read about it
Three federal programs do real work for an Alberta first-time buyer, and all three are covered at length elsewhere in this guide rather than summarised thinly here.
The First Home Savings Account lets you contribute and deduct like an RRSP and withdraw tax free like a TFSA, with a lifetime limit of $40,000. The Home Buyers' Plan lets you withdraw up to $60,000 from RRSPs toward a qualifying home, repaid over fifteen years. The Home Buyers' Amount is a non-refundable tax credit on up to $10,000 of the purchase. All three, including how they interact and the rules that decide borderline cases, are in our first-time buyer guide.
On a new build there are two separate GST rebates, and a first-time buyer can claim both. They are covered in the GST new housing rebate article and the first-time buyer GST rebate article. The insured-mortgage rules that set your minimum down payment are in the down payment guide.
One federal program that no longer exists
The CMHC First-Time Home Buyer Incentive was a shared-equity program that took a stake in your home in exchange for reducing your monthly payment. It is gone. In CMHC's own words, the deadline for new submissions was March 21, 2024, and no new approvals were granted after March 31, 2024.
It still appears on plenty of pages that were written while it existed and never revisited. If you find an article recommending it, that tells you something about how current the rest of that article is.
Alberta provincial programs
All four provincial programs below are administered by the Government of Alberta. Three of them are aimed at seniors, and the fourth is aimed at accessibility needs at any age. None of them help with a purchase.
SHARP: the Seniors Home Adaptation and Repair Program loan
SHARP lends up to $40,000 to Alberta seniors and senior couples with a total annual income of $75,000 or less, to pay for repairs or adaptations to the home they live in.
The interest rate is currently 4.45%. Alberta describes it as the current rate and says it is reviewed, and may be adjusted, every six months in April and October, so it is not locked for the life of the loan in the way a mortgage rate is. Interest is simple, calculated on the original amount rather than compounding.
The structure is what most people do not expect. There are no monthly repayments. A caveat is registered against the land title, and the loan becomes due when you sell, when you are no longer a registered owner, or when the home stops being your primary residence. In practice the debt sits against the house until the house changes hands.
The eligibility tests, in Alberta's terms:
- Total household income of $75,000 or less, taken from line 15000 of the previous year's return. Alberta collects this directly from the Canada Revenue Agency with your consent rather than asking you to submit it.
- Age 65 or older, and a registered owner. Only one spouse or partner needs to be at least 65.
- Canadian citizen, or lawfully admitted for permanent residence.
- Resident of Alberta for at least three months.
- A minimum of 25% equity in the primary residence where the work will happen.
That equity test is worth reading carefully, because it is stated as a limit on total charges rather than as a simple equity percentage. All charges registered against the land title, including the SHARP loan you are asking for, cannot exceed 75% of the property's municipally assessed market value. The value used is the annual municipal property tax assessment, not an appraisal and not a listing price. Certain charges have to be removed before an application can proceed, including a lis pendens, a reverse mortgage, maintenance enforcement, bankruptcy, foreclosure and a consumer proposal.
Ownership has to be the right shape too. The home must be your primary residence, registered with Land Titles, held in fee simple or leasehold, and insured at full replacement value. A pre-fabricated, mobile or manufactured home qualifies only if you also own the land it sits on. The residential portion of farmland or of a commercial property may be considered.
The minimum loan is $500 per application, and the maximum outstanding per household is $40,000 not counting interest. Work already done can sometimes be covered: Alberta allows retroactive funding where you have receipts for work completed and paid within the twelve months before the application is received.
The kind of work it funds is broad. Alberta's own examples include bathroom modifications and walk-in tubs, furnace and hot water tank upgrades, stair lifts, widening doorways, and roof and window replacement.
Two details matter if someone in the household dies. The loan becomes due on death, but it can continue for a surviving spouse or partner who is 55 or older, is a registered owner, lived in the home before the death, and continues to live there.
There are also cancellation rights attached to the contractor side. You have to apply to SHARP within 45 days of signing a contract for the work. If SHARP tells you that you are not eligible, you may cancel the contract within 30 days of that notice, and the contractor has to refund within 15 days. If you are found eligible for a loan, those cancellation rights do not apply.
SHARP grant: the fallback, not a separate program
This is the one most commonly misdescribed, including in our own internal data before this article was written. The SHARP grant is not a program you apply to. It is what happens when a SHARP loan application fails for a structural reason.
Alberta puts it plainly: you must provide a completed SHARP application to be considered for a grant, and if you meet all the loan requirements and have sufficient home equity, you are not eligible for a grant. The grant exists for people who cannot take the loan, for example because they have insufficient equity or are not a fee simple homeowner.
The income tests are much tighter than the loan's. A single senior needs a total annual income of $32,690 or less. A senior couple needs a combined total of $53,800 or less. Compare that with the loan's $75,000 household ceiling and you can see the grant is aimed at a genuinely low-income group.
The other requirements largely track the loan: 65 or older with only one spouse needing to qualify, Canadian citizen or permanent resident, Alberta resident for at least three months, and receiving or having applied for all other eligible seniors financial assistance. One requirement is relaxed. Home insurance at full replacement value is an eligibility requirement for the loan but not for the grant.
Ownership interests that qualify for the grant are wider than fee simple, which is the point of it. Alberta lists a mobile homeowner on land they do not own, a registered life estate, a settlement member holding Metis title under the Metis Settlements Act, and a fee simple owner who is not eligible for a loan. Second homes, summer homes, rentals and commercial property do not qualify.
The money is capped at $5,000 per household in a benefit year and $15,000 in a lifetime. The benefit year runs July 1 to June 30. Eligibility is assessed on the date the repair was completed, not the date you applied, and the cost has to be $500 or more, though multiple repairs can be combined to reach that floor.
What it will pay for is narrower than the loan. Alberta's wording is that only basic and essential repairs may be funded, and that renovations or upgrades are not considered. There is a per-item table setting both a maximum amount and how many times each item can be funded in a lifetime. Some of the caps:
| Repair | Maximum funded | Times funded in a lifetime |
|---|---|---|
| Bathroom repair | $5,000 | No limit |
| Furnace replacement | $4,000 | Once |
| Furnace repair | $4,000 | No limit |
| House roof repair or replacement | $5,000 | Once |
| Electrical repair | $5,000 | No limit |
| Plumbing repair | $5,000 | No limit |
| Hot water tank replacement | $1,000 | Once |
| Sewer or septic tank replacement | $5,000 | Once |
| Well replacement | $5,000 | Once |
| Mobile home leveling | $2,000 | Once |
| Mobile home skirting | $2,000 | Once |
| Carpet replacement to hard surface | $2,000 | Once |
| Chimney repair or replacement | $1,200 | Once |
| Garage roof | $1,800 | Once |
| Soffit, fascia and eaves | $1,800 combined | Once |
| Steps, landing and railings | $1,000 each | Twice |
| Exterior door | $600 each | Twice |
| Toilet | $300 each | Twice |
| Faucets and taps | $250 each | Five times |
Where the grant covers only part of the cost, the rest is on the applicant, and Alberta may ask for confirmation that you can pay it before approving anything.
RAMP: the Residential Access Modification Program
RAMP is the one genuine grant of the provincial group. It pays up to $12,000 per person in a benefit year, which runs April 1 to March 31, and up to $24,000 per person within ten years, for permanent accessibility modifications to a home in Alberta.
It is also the one that is not restricted to owners, and not restricted by age. Alberta's eligibility covers a homeowner, a tenant, or someone living with family, and includes Indigenous Albertans on or off reserve.
The health criteria are specific. It covers an Albertan of any age who uses a wheelchair, or a senior aged 65 or older who uses a four-wheel walker on an ongoing basis. It also covers people living with a listed progressive neuro-degenerative disease, where Alberta's list names multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, ALS, COPD, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, spina bifida, spinal cord injuries and non-recovering stroke. You must also be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who has lived in Alberta for 90 continuous days.
Income is tested against a family-size table. The maximum family income figures:
| Household | Maximum family income |
|---|---|
| Single adult | $36,900 |
| Single adult, one child | $46,500 |
| Single adult, two children | $56,100 |
| Single adult, three children | $65,700 |
| Single adult, four children | $75,300 |
| Single adult, five children | $84,900 |
| Couple, no children | $46,500 |
| Couple, one child | $56,100 |
| Couple, two children | $65,700 |
| Couple, three children | $75,300 |
| Couple, four children | $84,900 |
| Couple, five children | $94,500 |
An additional $7,131 of family income can be added where the family includes a child who permanently uses a wheelchair, and Alberta says exceptions may be made where a family is within $1,200 of the threshold.
Two timing rules catch people. Modifications must be completed within 90 days of approval, and Alberta aims to issue a decision letter within 30 days of the application. And the program has no appeal process, so a refusal is the end of that application rather than the start of a review.
Seniors Property Tax Deferral
This program lets eligible senior homeowners voluntarily defer all or part of their residential property taxes, including the education portion, through a low-interest home equity loan with the Government of Alberta. The province pays your municipality directly and you repay the province later.
The mechanics mirror the SHARP loan. Interest is 4.45%, reviewed every six months in April and October, simple rather than compounding, and it runs from the date the province pays your municipality until you repay. A caveat goes on title. There are no monthly repayments, and the balance becomes due when you sell, when you cease to be a registered owner, or when the home stops being your primary residence.
Once you are in, you can defer for up to ten years without submitting a new application each year.
Timing is the practical trap. You can apply at any time, but Alberta asks for the application at least 30 days before your municipal property tax deadline, which is usually June 30. Alberta's own worked example: if your taxes are due June 30, the application should arrive by May 31. If it does not and a late charge is applied, that charge is yours, though it can be paid directly or added to the loan. Alberta also states plainly that it reserves the right to deny an application for any reason at its sole discretion.
On who qualifies, we are going to be explicit about the limits of what we can tell you. The program page as published does not carry an eligibility section at all. There are figures circulating that describe an age test and a minimum 25% equity requirement for this program, and the 25% figure is verifiably the SHARP loan's equity test, which suggests the two have been conflated somewhere and copied since. Rather than repeat a number we cannot source to the program itself, the honest answer is that the qualifying criteria should be confirmed with Alberta Supports before you plan around them.
Calgary municipal programs
Attainable Homes Calgary
Attainable Homes Calgary is a non-profit, wholly owned subsidiary of the City of Calgary. It describes its model as permanently affordable and non-market, offering homes at below-market prices. It is the closest thing in this province to a buyer assistance program, and the only entry on this page that affects how you buy rather than what you do after.
The qualifying tests, in the program's own words:
- Household income below the maximum of $139,836 before taxes.
- Assets below $50,000, or below 20% of the purchase price. RRSPs, RESPs and your primary vehicle do not count against you.
- You can qualify for a mortgage.
- You can contribute a minimum of $2,000 toward your 5% down payment. Buyers using the organisation's down payment loan are required to provide $2,000 as their deposit.
- Household size appropriately matched to home size, and you must live in the home as your only home.
The resale terms are the part to understand before anything else, because they are what makes the below-market price possible. When you sell, Attainable Homes Calgary purchases the home from you for the same price you bought it for. There is no appreciation to you. You also repay the down payment loan, on which the organisation does not charge interest.
That is a real trade. You get into ownership on a $2,000 contribution and a below-market price, and you give up the equity growth that is usually the reason people buy. Whether that trade is right depends entirely on what the alternative is for your household, and it is a conversation worth having properly rather than deciding from a web page.
As at the time of writing the organisation is accepting registrations, applications are by appointment only, and the community named on its site is The Heights, in Radisson Heights.
CEIP, the Clean Energy Improvement Program, and why a buyer should care
CEIP is financing for energy and water efficiency retrofits on existing Calgary homes, administered by Alberta Municipalities rather than by the City directly. It is Alberta's version of PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy, and Calgary's enabling bylaw passed in December 2021.
The City is blunt about what it is not: CEIP is not a rebate program, and you must pay back all of the funding that you borrow. You can finance up to 100% of project costs to a maximum of $50,000, over a term of up to 20 years based on the lifespan of the upgrades. The rate is locked when you sign, and the City has estimated it in the range of 6.00% to 6.10%. Earlier pre-qualifications hold earlier rates: 3.25% for 2024 and 2.95% for 2023.
Repayment happens through the property tax bill, as a separate Clean Energy Improvement Tax line item that appears on the May bill and on the Tax Certificate. You can pay the balance out at any time without a penalty, though it has to be the full principal rather than a partial payment.
Here is the part that belongs in a buyer's guide. The financing stays with the property, not the owner. When a CEIP participant sells, they can either pay off the remaining balance with no penalty, or disclose and transfer the balance to the new owner, who takes over the payments. The City's own advice to purchasers is direct: before you put an offer on a home, contact them to confirm whether a CEIP loan is attached to the property.
That is a due diligence item, and it is the reason this program appears in an article otherwise about assistance. A CEIP balance is a real obligation that can come with the house, showing up on the tax certificate your lawyer reviews. It is not a reason to walk away from a home, since the upgrades came with it too, but it is a number that belongs in your math before you decide what to offer.
The program is currently closed to new applications. The City is running an email list for when it reopens. If you are reading about CEIP as a way to fund your own retrofit after you buy, that is the current position.
When it does reopen, the eligibility is narrower than people assume. Eligible properties are low-rise residential in Calgary: a single or semi-detached house, a row house, a town home, or the residential portion of a mixed-use or multi-unit building under three storeys with a footprint of 600 square metres or less. It funds retrofits only, and new builds do not qualify.
The financial requirements are a credit screen in everything but name. You cannot be in tax arrears now or in the last five years, cannot have made a late tax payment now or in the past five years, cannot be in foreclosure, bankruptcy or receivership, must be current on all property-secured debt, and your total property-secured debt cannot exceed the home's assessed value. You also cannot be enrolled in the City's Property Tax Assistance Program or in Alberta's Seniors Property Tax Deferral Program, so those three are mutually exclusive.
Two further conditions are easy to miss. Some mortgage lenders require consent before you enrol, and the City warns that not obtaining required consent could breach your mortgage. And a condominium, row house or town home needs a board approval letter, plus an electrical capacity calculation where the upgrade changes electricity use.
Work has to be done by a CEIP qualified contractor from the program directory, with no do-it-yourself option, and the process requires an EnerGuide home evaluation both before and after the project.
PTAP, the Property Tax Assistance Program
PTAP is for Calgary residential property owners experiencing financial hardship. Despite living at a seniors URL on the City's site, it is open regardless of age, which the City states explicitly.
What it pays is specific, and narrower than the name suggests. The benefit is a credit or grant of the increase on your property tax account. Not the bill, the increase. That means the program only does anything at all in a year when your levy went up, and the City lists a year-over-year increase in the property tax levy as one of the criteria.
The other criteria:
- You must have been an owner on title for a minimum of 365 concurrent days by the end of the subject taxation year.
- All owners must be listed on the application, and owners who are not applying may be asked to show proof of an alternate residence.
- Applicants must be individuals, not companies.
- You must not own any other property within the City of Calgary.
That 365-day rule is why this program is not a buyer program. In the year you buy, you are not eligible, because you have not been on title long enough.
Several situations are excluded even where the levy did rise. The City lists an increase caused by physical changes to the property, by external non-market impacts such as an owner-initiated zoning change, servicing, remediation, a change in tax status, a factual correction or a change in assessment class, by a supplementary assessment, or by a partial development assessment.
Applications run through Fair Entry, which is the City's single application for subsidised programs, so applying also opens the door to others. The program opens June 1 with a December 31 deadline, and the City warns that referral volume means processing takes four to six weeks. Applying does not change your obligation to pay: the 2026 property tax bill is still due June 30.
A separate program, Compassionate Property Tax Penalty Relief, deals with penalties rather than with the levy itself.
How to read any program page, including this one
A few habits save real money and real disappointment here.
Check whether it is a loan. Three of the seven programs above are loans registered against title. They are useful, and for the right household they are far better than the alternative, but they are not free money and they reduce what you walk away with when the home sells.
Check whether it is open. CEIP is closed right now. The federal First-Time Home Buyer Incentive closed in 2024. Program pages are updated; the blog posts describing them often are not.
Check the benefit year. SHARP's grant year runs July 1 to June 30. RAMP's runs April 1 to March 31. Neither matches the calendar year, and both reset annual maximums.
Go to the program's own site for numbers. Every figure on this page came from the program itself, because the third-party versions were wrong often enough to matter. One widely-shared page gave the Attainable Homes income ceiling as $90,000, when the program's own material says $139,836. Someone relying on that number would have ruled themselves out of a program they qualified for.
How this runs with our team
The practical version of all this, for someone buying in Calgary or the surrounding towns, is short.
On the buying side, the federal programs do the work. Your FHSA, your Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal, the Home Buyers' Amount at tax time, and on a new build the GST rebates. We go through those with you when we sit down to plan the purchase, because two of them need to be set up well before you write an offer rather than at the point of closing.
On the property side, CEIP is the one that can appear in a deal. If a home you are considering carries a CEIP balance, we confirm it and put the number in front of you before you decide what to offer, alongside the rest of what the title and tax certificate show. That check happens as a matter of course on our side, and you never have to raise it with the listing brokerage yourself.
If you or a family member might qualify for a provincial program, Alberta Supports is the right first call for whether you meet the tests, and the program pages set out how to apply. We can tell you what a program does and how it shows up on title; we are not the ones who assess eligibility for them.
None of the above is tax, legal or financial advice. Program rules change, and several of the figures here carry review dates that fall in the next twelve months. Confirm anything you plan to rely on directly with the program before you act on it.