When the Canadian budget was announced back in April 2022, Chrystia Freeland also announced a new $500 payment to low income Canadians who rent their homes. “The government will provide renters in 2022 a one-time $500 payment to nearly one million low-income Canadians struggling with the cost of living,” she said.
This was part of the Canadian government’s plans to help low-income Canadians in particular cope with the rising cost of living. Have you heard the term inflation lately? Of course you have – we all have! The rising costs associated with inflation has been in the news all year long, but especially in the last few months. We’re all coping with the new reality of watching prices of necessities creep upward. Housing costs, too, have only risen – which is why this announcement was of interest to the nearly 1 million Canadians who are considered low income, AND who also rent their homes.
WHEN will the $500 payments arrive?
There were very few specifics given when the announcement of this $500 payment was first made, AND there has been little in the way of updates since then. So far, even provincial governments and rental advocacy groups haven’t been updated in a meaningful way. So as of today, we don’t know exactly when these payments will be arriving, or even exactly how they’ll be arriving. (But, as if often the case with federal program payments, it might be safe to assume that they’ll arrive as a direct deposit. Otherwise, it may be a cheque sent in the mail.)
As soon as we hear more, we’ll update this page with the date of this payment’s arrival! It’ll surely be a helpful boost for the nearly 1 million Canadians who are both low-income and home renters.