FAQs

A Community Improvement Plan (or CIP) is a tool under the Province’s ‘Planning Act’ that permits a municipality to provide financial assistance/incentives to private or not-for profit property owners to achieve specific community improvement objectives in a defined geographic area of the municipality. Once implemented, financial assistance/incentives can be provided in the form of grants, loans or tax assistance to property owners or authorized tenants.  

No. Financial assistance programs are made available at the discretion of City Council.

The city undertakes a comprehensive review of its Community Improvement Plans every five years.  These reviews are intended to identify any changes that may be needed to ensure that the CIP and its associated financial assistance/incentive programs continue to align with provincial and local policies, are achieving their intended goals, continue to be financially sustainable and that programs align with current community and Council priorities.

This CIP includes programs that provide financial assistance/incentives in the form of grants and loans. These grants and loans help create housing, allow for façade improvements and accessibility upgrades, assist start-ups and support office tenancy.

The programs currently offered include:

• Commercial District Housing Opportunities Program 
• Downtown and Barton/Kenilworth Housing Opportunities Program
• Hamilton Tax Increment Grant Program 
• Barton/Kenilworth Tax Increment Grant Program 
• Commercial District Revitalization Grant Program 
• Barton/Kenilworth Revitalization Grant Program 
• Start-up & Office Tenant Attraction Program 
• Commercial Vacancy Assistance Program 
• Barton/Kenilworth Planning and Building Fees Rebate Program
• Downtown Entertainment Precinct Advancement Program 

Details of each program is available on investinhamilton.ca or connect with City staff to discuss your project.

Currently, there are specified geographic areas of the City that are eligible. Generally, owners and authorized tenants of the properties located in the eligible areas can apply to the programs. 

The eligible areas include properties found within strategic districts and commercial corridors in the City (e.g. Downtown, Business Improvement Areas, and parts of corridors like Barton Street or Main Street) that the City is specifically targeting for investment.

Anyone can participate. We look forward to receiving feedback from everyone including residents, business owners, property managers, community advocates etc. The better cross section of opinion and feedback we receive, the more confident we can be that our programs are truly reflective of the community’s interests.

Through the use of financial incentives in the form of grants and loans, the City is able to support small businesses, reduce vacancy and encourage private investment.  These investments make our strategic commercial districts and corridors more attract and the properties and buildings along them more functional, useable and marketable. We have learned through successes in our financial incentive program that an investment of public funding in these commercial districts results in many times more private dollars invested in these areas.

The amendments or updates to the CIP that may result based on community feedback include:

• Revisions to the programs or the introduction of new programs;
• Changes to the incentive structures and payouts of the grants;
• Changes in eligibility; and/or
• Changes to the grant/loan amounts

This review is solely with respect to the Revitalizing Hamilton’s Commercial Districts Community Improvement Plan and its associated financial assistance programs.  This review does not include other City Community Improvement Plans such as the Hamilton LEED’ing the Way Community Improvement Plan or the ‘ERASE’ Community Improvement Plan. Information on these other plans can be found at www.hamilton.ca/cip.

No. If you have already received an approval (or conditional approval) from City Council or staff (where delegated authority exists), you are not impacted by this review. However, if you have submitted an application and do not get an approval (or conditional approval) before changes are made to this CIP and its programs, you are subject to the changes that result from this review.