Stream 2 Applicant Guide - Support for Capacity Building and Home Labelling Initiatives

The Home Labelling Fund (HLF) seeks to support the implementation of a National Approach to Home Labelling by funding Projects to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of home labels in Canada. This stream will support the efforts of municipalities, regional governments, utilities, industry and other organizations to build capacity to help deliver home labelling, deploy, expand the reach, and/or improve the effectiveness of home labelling programs, tools and practices.

Objectives

NRCan's $11.96 million HLF will fund Projects to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of home labels in Canada by supporting:

• The deployment of home labels across the country
• Improvements to the way home energy efficiency information can be collected, used and disclosed/disseminated
• Home energy efficiency and labelling initiatives in Indigenous, rural, remote, and under-resourced communities
• Capacity building and home labelling initiatives from key stakeholders
• The provision of linked energy efficiency and related home adaptation information to households in Canada.

Eligibility

Eligibility Criteria

All applications must comply with the requirements indicated below. Applications that do not meet these requirements will not be evaluated.

Eligible Recipients

Eligible Recipients must be legal entities validly incorporated or registered in Canada. Eligible Recipients for Stream 2 funding are:

• Regional and municipal governments and their departments, agencies and other public institutions where applicable
• Legal entities validly incorporated or registered in Canada including for-profit and not-for-profit organizations such as electricity and gas utilities
• Energy efficiency consulting firms, companies, industry associations, research associations, standards organizations
• Community groups, cooperatives, advocacy groups
• Canadian academic institutions

Legal Documentation

All Applicants must provide legal documentation confirming their organization is a legal entity (i.e., letters patent, certificate of incorporation or other such legal documentation). Applications with missing or incomplete information will not be evaluated.

Proof of Authority

To be eligible for funding, Applicants must demonstrate that they have the required authority to undertake the Project.

The Primary Contact and the person submitting the application must be employees or officers of the Applicant organization who is duly authorized to:

• Complete the attestations contained in the application
• Verify that the application is complete, accurate, true and reliable.

Project Activities

Activities must contribute to the improved energy efficiency and understanding of the housing sector by increasing Canadians’ access to, and understanding of, home energy efficiency information through activities associated to home labelling. Activities related to home adaptation may also be included if they are linked with home energy efficiency activities.

Projects that are currently underway are eligible, if they align with the objectives of the Program. However, the eligible expenditures period begins only once the Contribution Agreement is signed.

Eligible Activities:

• Support for the development and implementation processes for home labelling legislation, standards and/or rating systems
• Development and/or dissemination of tools and/or information related to home energy efficiency, including pilots for development and implementation of energy efficiency tools and standards
• Development, organization, and/or delivery of energy efficiency training, education, certification or outreach materials to end users, such as home label and energy efficiency literacy training.
• Capacity building and training to support home labelling Projects and/or to develop a base of energy efficiency skills and knowledge for the benefit of Indigenous communities
• Events and activities that promote home energy efficiency objectives of labelling such as stakeholder engagement and communication and awareness-raising programs
• Studies and research in support of home labelling (e.g., energy audits, energy modelling, assessments, evaluations, benchmarking studies, energy management development studies, business cases, technical guides and reports, implementation roadmaps and best practice studies)
• Outreach Projects designed to support the deployment of home labelling activities, particularly those directed to under-resourced communities
• Support for the deployment, monitoring and showcasing of energy-efficient technologies and practices that can remove barriers to the implementation of home labelling initiatives.

Examples of Eligible Activities include, but are not limited to:

• Development, implementation and/or deployment of home energy efficiency assessment tools that include climate adaptation information
• Development, implementation, deployment, piloting and/or testing of remote home assessments, labels and tools (including teleconference technologies)
• Development, demonstration and/or deployment of strategies that integrate multiple home assessment methods (such as on-site, virtual and/or remote) into cohesive home labelling systems.
• Initiatives to:
  • Develop and/or implement home labelling programs
  • Mitigate barriers to home labelling, particularly for those from under-resourced communities
  • Raise the awareness of hard-to-reach groups on home labelling and energy efficiency
• Creation of guidelines or best practice documents to support home energy efficiency data gathering and analysis for rural, remote or Indigenous communities
• Validation and verification of labels produced through different assessment methods (e.g., virtual, remote and/or on-site)
• Projects to investigate how home energy labels could be used to demonstrate National Building Code compliance
• Development of innovative home labelling solutions to empower under-resourced individuals/communities to use the label/data to make their homes more energy efficient, affordable and comfortable (e.g. to access financing, easily procure quotes from contractors, etc.)

Ineligible Activities for this current round of funding are:

• Demonstration, deployment or replication of technologies, systems or services that are already at the commercial stage
• Incremental improvements to software or other tools for energy assessments that are already in the marketplace or that are ready for commercialization.
• Development of virtual home labelling software and/or tools that focus solely on home energy assessment (i.e. a tool or software that does not include climate adaptation).

Further Distribution of Funds

Eligible Recipients that further distribute funding for Projects and activities must ensure that they distribute funds towards Sub-Projects and activities that align with this section, as established in funding agreements with NRCan. Eligible Recipient activities may include coordination of calls for proposals, the selection of persons and/or entities to which they further distribute funding, and the management of funding.

Further distribution of funds must be formalized in the Contribution Agreement between Canada and the Initial Recipient to be eligible.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Applicants are not required, but are encouraged to include Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) considerations in their proposal to show how their Project supports Indigenous, rural, remote, and under-resourced communities. Applicants could focus on inclusive outcomes, such as accessible labelling, provision of tailored resources, mitigation of financial impacts, and engagement of underrepresented groups.

Eligible Expenditures

Eligible Expenditures must be directly related to the implementation and conduct of the approved Project and reside in the following categories:

• Salaries and benefits of employees on the payroll of the Recipient for the actual time spent by the employees on the Project
• Professional services, such as scientific, technical, management, construction, engineering, marketing, data collection and analysis, audit/assessment and evaluation, training, project development and management, energy performance monitoring, benchmarking, labelling and disclosure, project monitoring and verification, logistics, maintenance, and contracting services
• Travel expenditures, including meals and accommodation, based on National Joint Council Rates
• Honoraria and ceremonial costs where Indigenous Recipients or Indigenous partners of Recipients are involved
• Advertising, recruitment and training (including facilitator fees, costs of training development, promotion, accreditation, deployment and evaluation)
• Licence fees, data purchases, certification costs, regulatory compliance and inspection costs, construction insurance, and permits
• Capital expenditures towards retrofitting or upgrading existing facilities, buildings or infrastructure that improve energy efficiency, for example informatics hardware and software, construction of new assets, purchase and installation of equipment*
• Material, supplies and equipment and systems
• Equipment leasing and rental
• Rental of facilities, audio and visual services, and other related costs (excluding hospitality and prizes) associated with delivering workshops, delivering training, conferences, meetings, and special events
• Overhead expenditures provided that they are related to the conduct of the Project and can be attributed to it. Overhead expenditures may be included in the total Project costs, up to 15% of eligible expenditures
• Goods and Services Tax (GST), Provincial Sales Tax (PST) or Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), net of any tax rebate to which the Recipient is entitled^{Footnote 1}.

Special Case for Capital Expenditures

*Excludes capital expenditures for major retrofits or upgrades (such as installing a heat pump or adding insulation to walls) to existing facilities, buildings or infrastructure, construction of new assets, or the purchase and installation of home equipment. Includes capital expenditures for minor retrofits or upgrades, such as air sealing, if coherent with the Project objectives, does not require building permits, and represents a small portion of the Project’s total funding (a rationale will be required for retrofits and upgrades representing more than 5% of the Project’s total budget).

Funding

The Program’s total budget envelope is $11.96 million, which must be fully allocated by March 31, 2029. There is no funding limit per Project, however the Program must stay within its funding parameters and consider geographical/regional distribution of funds as well as benefits to Canadians. At NRCan’s discretion, the funding will be distributed among the Streams, with a portion specifically reserved for Stream 3.

*Please note that year 1 funding has been allocated through an Expression of Interest under Stream 1, therefore Applicants should only apply for funding that would begin April 1, 2026 or later.

Projects are funded according to fiscal years. Fiscal years start on April 1st and finish on March 31st.

Stacking Limits and In-kind Costs

The Stacking limits for the total funding from Canadian governments (federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal) is as follows:

• Up to one hundred percent (100%) of total Project costs for Recipients who are:
  • Provincial, territorial, regional, and municipal governments and their departments and agencies where applicable
  • Indigenous communities and organizations, including Indigenous governing bodies
  • Registered not-for-profit organizations
• Up to seventy-five percent (75%) of total costs for other organizations.

Prior to signing the Contribution Agreement, the Recipient will be required to disclose all anticipated sources of funding for the proposed Project, including approved in-kind funding, and clearly identifying contributions from other Canadian government sources (federal, provincial/territorial and municipal).

In-kind costs are those contributions of goods and services provided by the Proponent that are considered towards total Project costs; however, they are not eligible expenditures.

The Recipient must comply with the Stacking limits at the time of signing the Contribution Agreement. At Project completion, if actual Total Government Funding to a Recipient exceeds the eligible expenditures, NRCan will adjust its level of funding (and seek reimbursement, if necessary) so that Stacking limits are not exceeded.

How to apply

A completed and signed Application Form must be submitted along with other supporting documentation by email to homelabellingfund-fondsdetiquetageresidentiel@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca or by mail to the address below before January 23rd, 2026, 23:59 Pacific Standard Time.

Natural Resources Canada
Mailroom Operations
Sir William Logan Building
580 Booth Street, 13^th Floor
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0E4
Attention: Michael Savelli, Equipment and Housing Division, Office of Energy Efficiency

Mailed-in applications with an official date stamp are accepted.

Applicants are also invited to send their questions by email to homelabellingfund-fondsdetiquetageresidentiel@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.

The Application Form must be completed and signed by a representative with signing authority, such as the President/Chair of the Board of Directors.

Content of the Application

All applications must include:

1. A completed Application Form for the appropriate Stream
2. Proof of Recipient eligibility
3. If applicable, letters of support from partners and community leadership
4. If applicable, supporting documentation such as blueprints or technical specifications.

Projects can run for multiple years but must end no later than March 31, 2029.

The Application Form must be submitted by email, or by mail.

Each section of the Application Form has an indicated word count. Text exceeding the word count will not be reviewed by NRCan.

All applications must be complete, signed and submitted using the form provided.

Letters of Support

Partnerships, including all other sources of funding, are encouraged to be documented with letters of support submitted with the Application Form. Each letter (maximum of 2 pages) should include the source of support, justification for the support, the nature of the support (cash, staff time, etc.), the period over which it will be supplied and the dollar value of the contribution.

Working in Collaboration with Indigenous Communities

Given the Government of Canada’s commitment to a renewed relationship with Indigenous peoples, we ask all Applicants to be mindful of Indigenous realities during the design and implementation of their Project.

The collection, analysis, and distribution of data associated to Indigenous communities should follow the principles of the appropriate oversight body, such as the First Nations Principles of OCAP.

Organizations working with Indigenous groups should obtain a formal letter of support from the appropriate representatives of the Indigenous communities before the application is submitted.

Assessment and Selection Process

Proposal assessment and Project selection are stream-specific. Each Stream will be evaluated separately with specific merit criteria.

The selection process will consider:

• The eligibility of the Applicant
• The eligibility of the proposed activities
• Evaluation scores from the use of a standard evaluation grid
• Geographical/regional distribution of Program funds
• Alignment with Government of Canada objectives.

In all cases, Project selection will be made by senior NRCan officials in accordance with delegated levels of authorities. These decisions will be made in consideration of recommendations made by a Project Review Committee following the process established for each stream. For Stream 2, recommendations will be issued after all proposals are evaluated and scored. Where appropriate, evaluations will be supported by technical assessments or third-party reviews.

Priority may be given to proposals that:

• Best align with Program objectives
• Demonstrate a comprehensive and cost-effective approach given the unique realities of the region
• Address barriers to the adoption of home labelling or disclosure
• Have measurable outcomes
• Clearly demonstrate benefits to Canadians/Canada
• Provide a higher percentage of other source funds leveraging (i.e. include a greater proportion of funding, financial or in-kind, from non-federal partners).

Funding decisions will also consider:

• Funding requested per year and the availability of funds
• Contribution to reducing barriers for under-resourced individuals and groups
• The ability to transition to ongoing and self-sustaining models
• Demonstrated success in other jurisdictions/projects
• Previous NRCan funding to applicants.

Unsuccessful Applicants will be informed of the funding decisions along with justifications for the decision.

NRCan does not guarantee funding to any Applicant.

Following Project Selection

Once a Project is selected for funding, a Letter of Conditional Approval will be sent to the Project Lead. This letter will inform the Applicant of the upcoming negotiation of the Contribution Agreement. A Program Officer will then share a draft agreement with the Project Lead to start the negotiations.

Upon successful negotiation of the Contribution Agreement, the agreement will be signed by NRCan and the Applicant. The Contribution Agreement will outline the rights, roles, and obligations of each party. Once duly signed by both parties, the Project can commence. No liability, commitment or obligation exists on the part of NRCan to fund the Project of an Applicant until a written Contribution Agreement is signed by both parties. Any costs or expenses incurred or paid by the Applicant prior to the signing of the Contribution Agreement by both parties are the sole responsibility of the Applicant.

Contribution Agreements will contain provisions outlining default conditions, remedies and consequences as well as the process for cases of change of ownership and disposal of assets.

Reporting Requirements

Regular communication between NRCan and the Eligible Recipients will be established to monitor progress.

Reporting requirements will be reflected in every Contribution Agreement and may include:

• A report depicting how the activities and outputs of the Project have been contributing to the overall objectives of the Program
• Assessment of key performance indicators (KPIs).

KPIs are quantifiable Project outcomes.

Official Languages

NRCan will comply with all applicable requirements stipulated in Canada’s Official Languages Act, the related regulations, as well as all federal government policies in this regard. Applicant Guides, and any other public documents provided by NRCan, will be made available concurrently in both official languages, and official communication with Proponents will be in the official language of choice of the Proponent.

Intellectual Property

All intellectual property that arises from the Project will vest in the Recipient or be licensed to the Recipient if a Recipient’s subcontractor retains title to such intellectual property.

Recipients will give the reports and documents described in the Contribution Agreement to NRCan. The Recipient hereby grants to NRCan a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, free and royalty-free licence in perpetuity. That licence is to use, modify, and make publicly available (subject to the Access to Information Act) such reports and documents for non-commercial governmental purposes.

Service standard

A service standard is a public commitment to measure the level of performance that clients can expect under normal circumstances. NRCan is committed to adhering to the following three service standards to increase transparency, to clarify expectations and to focus on service:

• Acknowledge receipt of the application and/or proposal

NRCan will acknowledge receipt of an application and/or a proposal within five business days of receiving it. NRCan aims to meet this standard 95% of the time.

• Provide a funding decision

NRCan will issue an official written notification of the funding decision within 100 business days of the closing date of the call for proposals, or within 100 business days of receiving the proposal where there is a continuous intake process. NRCan aims to meet this standard 90% of the time.

• Issue payment

NRCan will issue payments within 30 calendar days of receiving invoices if all of the conditions in the Contribution Agreement are met. NRCan aims to meet this standard 90% of the time.

Note: Achieving these service standards is a shared responsibility and depends on the documentation being complete and submitted in a timely manner. It is important that Recipients provide complete and accurate information and timely responses to questions.

NRCan’s service standards results are posted publicly on the department website under Departmental Reports.

Privacy and Confidentiality

The use and distribution of data collected under the Home Labelling Fund will comply with both the Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act.

Pursuant to the Privacy Act, the Home Labelling Fund will keep confidential any personal information it may collect and will not disclose or transmit said information without the Applicant’s written consent.

Pursuant to the Access to Information Act, the Home Labelling Fund will protect from disclosure any information of a financial, commercial, scientific, or technical nature it collects from Applicants, provided the Applicants treat said information as confidential in their own establishments.

The Applicant’s name, Project title, non-confidential overview, and amount awarded will be public information if the proposal is selected for funding. All other information is treated as confidential unless otherwise indicated by the Applicant.

Use of EnerGuide Data

Important Note. Information collected through EnerGuide Rating System (ERS) residential energy efficiency evaluations is publicly available at: EnerGuide Rating System Open Data - Open Government Portal. Data is provided by calendar year, at the Forward Sortation Area level for files since 2004. Address-level data from the EnerGuide database is not available due to restrictions stipulated under the Privacy Act.

Glossary

Adaptation measures: Actions that can be taken to help make a home more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather due to climate change

Applicant: Organization submitting the proposal.

Community: A group of people that interact with each other within mutually understood geographical limits. To be a community, this group needs to share interests that go beyond the individuals’ interests. They must also share values, beliefs, and behaviours, and recognize their inclusion within the group. In this regard, a community can be a neighbourhood or the subset of a neighbourhood, or a group of people that share life experiences, like ethnic communities or communities bound by other interests.

Contribution: Funding provided by Canada under a Contribution Agreement.

Home Energy Performance Label: a representation of a home’s energy performance based on the inherent components of a home – often including a rating and information about the energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, typical costs, and steps to improve the energy efficiency of the home. Created through an assessment (conducted on-site, remotely, or virtually) of the home.

Home Label: within this context, Home Label refers to a Home Energy Performance Label.

Indigenous: Inuit, Métis, First Nation, urban Indigenous, Status Indian, and non-Status Indian individuals or any combination thereof.

Indigenous Governing Body:

• A band council within the meaning of section 2 of the Indian Act
• A First Nation, Inuit or Métis government or authority established pursuant to a Self-Government Agreement or a Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement between His Majesty the King in right of Canada and an Indigenous people of Canada, that has been approved, given effect and declared valid by federal legislation
• A First Nation, Inuit or Métis government that is established by or under legislation, whether federal or provincial, that incorporates a governance structure.

Indigenous Organizations: Organizations governed by Indigenous individuals. This includes, but is not limited to, incorporated for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and unincorporated associations.

Initial recipient: an individual or entity that has received transfer payment funding from a department and further distributes that funding to ultimate recipients.

Key Performance Indicators: Concrete and measurable targets for how the Project will achieve its goals (e.g., this Project will label X number of homes out of a total of X, reduce the cost of a label by X amount, reach X number of households with home energy efficiency information, etc.).

On-site assessment: A home energy assessment that is conducted by a registered Energy Advisor or other qualified professional in the home.

Part 9: Buildings defined in Part 9 of the National Building Code as fewer than 3 storeys in height and smaller than 600m² in area. Most Part 9 buildings are residential.

Program: The Call for Proposal, the associated funding, and the activities.

Project: Proposal described by the Applicant.

Recipients: Legal entities, including for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, who, upon successful negotiations, will enter into a Contribution Agreement and receive funding for their Project.

Remote home assessment: An assessment of a home that is conducted off-site through video, photography, or a phone call with a registered Energy Advisor or another qualified professional.

Residential/ Residential Sector: The buildings intended for private occupancy.

Resilience: Increasing a home’s ability to cope with extreme climate events by adding adaptation measures.

Stacking: The limit of total Canadian government funding (federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal) that is permitted under a Contribution Agreement.

Sub-Projects: means the activities described in an application submitted by the Ultimate Recipients to the Initial Recipient, which the Initial Recipient has agreed to fund.

Ultimate recipient: an individual or entity that has received a payment from an initial recipient.

Under-resourced: Individuals or groups that do not possess the necessary resources to access other goods or to the appropriate spaces in which these goods can be acquired. This term may be used to identify youth, women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, racialized individuals, individuals who identify as 2SLGBTQQIA+, war veterans and more.

Virtual energy assessment: A home energy assessment performed without the support of an energy advisor. In this type of assessment, a home’s characteristics are estimated using information from third party databases, and optionally, information provided by the homeowner.

Virtual home label: A home label resulting from a virtual assessment.

Contact us

If you have questions please contact us: homelabellingfund-fondsdetiquetageresidentiel@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.