Water and Wastewater Infrastructure: Accessing the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund
The Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) launched in March 2025 as a $5.7 billion investment in water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste infrastructure. For Indigenous communities facing aging water systems and inadequate treatment capacity, CHIF represents a direct funding pathway. But accessing it requires understanding the fund's structure, eligibility criteria, and application process.
What CHIF Funds and How It Works
CHIF is designed to accelerate the construction and upgrading of housing-enabling infrastructure. The fund flows through bilateral agreements between the federal government and provinces and territories. This means CHIF is not a direct-to-community grant program. Instead, your community's priorities must be reflected in provincial negotiations, and your projects must align with provincial infrastructure priorities.
Eligible projects include drinking water systems, wastewater treatment facilities, stormwater management, and solid waste infrastructure. The fund prioritizes projects that enable housing growth and community development. A water treatment facility that serves a new housing development is more likely to be funded than a replacement facility for existing capacity.
The Challenge: Provincial Negotiation and Bilateral Agreements
CHIF operates through bilateral agreements between Canada and each province or territory. These agreements define how much funding each jurisdiction receives and what categories of projects are eligible. For Indigenous communities, this creates a critical dependency: if your community's infrastructure priorities are not reflected in your province's bilateral agreement, your projects may not be eligible for CHIF funding.
This is not a technical problem. It is a governance problem. Communities that engage their provincial government early in the bilateral negotiation process are more likely to see their priorities reflected in the final agreement. Communities that wait until after the agreement is signed have limited options.
How to Position Your Community for CHIF Access
Identify your priority water and wastewater projects and quantify their cost and timeline.
Engage your provincial government to ensure your community's infrastructure needs are reflected in bilateral agreement negotiations.
Prepare project-ready documentation: feasibility studies, cost estimates, environmental assessments, and implementation timelines.
Understand how CHIF projects connect to housing development in your community—funders want to see the link between infrastructure and housing growth.
Build internal governance capacity to manage multi-year capital delivery commitments.
The Window Is Open Now
CHIF is a 10-year program, but the early years are critical. Communities that secure CHIF funding in 2025–26 will have their projects underway while others are still preparing applications. The competitive advantage goes to communities that arrive at the table with clear priorities, credible project documentation, and the governance capacity to deliver.
XNM Consulting helps Indigenous communities develop water and wastewater infrastructure plans, prepare CHIF applications, and manage project delivery. Contact us to discuss how your community can access CHIF funding for critical water infrastructure.