A new period starts October 1. Revenu Québec's Shelter Allowance program runs in one-year cycles that do not follow the calendar year: the next period covers October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, according to Revenu Québec. It is a monthly payment, and it can reach $170 a month.
The amount depends on how heavily housing weighs on your budget. There is no single amount: what you receive varies with the share of your income that goes to rent, your household composition and your income. The maximum is $170 a month; the exact tiers and the income ceilings for this period are published on the program's eligibility page, which also offers a short questionnaire to check your situation.
Who can qualify. The conditions apply together: you live in Québec; you rent an eligible dwelling, own the home you live in, or live with someone you pay rent to; you have at least one dependent child, or you are 50 or older as of September 30, 2027; you spent at least 30% of your 2025 family income on housing; and as of December 31, 2025 you did not hold more than $50,000 in bank accounts, TFSAs and investments. FHSAs and registered plans such as RRSPs do not count toward that limit.
You must have filed your income tax return. If you were living in Québec on December 31, 2025, you and your spouse must have filed a Québec income tax return for 2025. That return is how Revenu Québec knows your family income — without it, the application cannot be processed.
The part many people miss: it does not arrive on its own. Unlike the Family Allowance, which is paid automatically to eligible families, the Shelter Allowance has to be applied for. A household can meet every condition for years and never receive anything, simply because nobody told them to apply.
Applying late does not cost you the months that passed. If you apply after October 1, 2026, the allowance is retroactive: your first payment covers the amounts you were entitled to from the start of the period. You have until September 30, 2027 for the current period. Forgetting for a few months is therefore not money lost — waiting past the end of the period is.
Good to know for newcomers. This benefit targets exactly the situation many immigrant households face in their first years: an income that is still modest and rent that takes an outsized share of the budget. Two useful habits: file your Québec income tax return even on a low income — it is the key that unlocks the Shelter Allowance, the solidarity tax credit and several other benefits — and re-check your eligibility every fall, since the answer changes with your income. Our guide to the Revenu Québec Shelter Allowance walks through the forms and the steps.
