Income and Employment Supports Act, Schedule, section 8 and Table 3
Income Support, Training and Health Benefits Regulation, sections 2(1), 2(2) and 2(4)

INTENT

To describe the Core Shelter benefits available to individuals in a variety of private housing situations.

POLICY

Core Shelter is provided to clients residing in private housing. Private housing includes homeowners, renters and room and board situations. Renters include:

• clients or applicants who are renting a self-contained suite from relatives; or 
• clients or applicants who have a tenancy agreement with a landlord (including when Living with Family as outlined in the Core Shelter General policy). 
  
  Note
  The landlord cannot be a relative (as defined in the Living with Family section of the Core Shelter General policy) also residing in the same accommodations.

Core Shelter is determined by household composition and living arrangement. See also the Core Shelter-Social Housing policy and the Core Shelter-General policy for other types of living arrangements.

Core Shelter for private housing covers the following items:

• Payments for rent or payments under a mortgage or agreement for sale
• Utilities (except telephone)
• Heating fuel
• Damage deposit
• Lot rental for a mobile home
• Municipal taxes, house or tenant insurance, and, if applicable, condominium fees
• Homeowner's maintenance
  

Maximum Monthly Core Shelter Payment Table-Private Housing

Need Code 1130 Core Shelter
Living Arrangement 1 Private Housing

See Core Shelter Rate Adjustment policy for information about adjusting Core Shelter benefits and Income Support Overview – Eligibility Impacts. 

1. LISA will default the Core Shelter when the worker presses the Enter key in Preliminary Budget in Eligibility Determination and PF10 key in Client Budget for all household types except One-Time Issues when the Living Arrangement is ‘1’ Private Housing.
   
2. To ensure LISA defaults the right Core Shelter amount from The Maximum Core Shelter Payment Table, the worker must ensure the Living Arrangement field displayed in Client Budget is correct and that household composition and client type is correct in Client File. Workers can change Living Arrangement in Client Budget.