March of Dimes HVMP

The Home and Vehicle Modification Program is administered by March of Dimes Canada and funds basic, essential modifications that remove a barrier for a person with a disability. It covers three streams: devices and adaptations, home modifications, and vehicle modifications. It is the program that most often funds the home access equipment Ontario's Assistive Devices Program refuses.

Yes, and this is the important difference from ADP. Ontario explicitly excludes wheelchair ramps and wheelchair lifts from ADP, while the HVMP application form names custom and curved stairlifts, modular ramps, vertical platform lifts, tub cutouts and ceiling track lifts as items it funds, with extra documentation required for each.

Yes, and unusually for a funding program, the thresholds are published. Eligibility is assessed on household after-tax net income against your household size. For one adult, full funding applies at or below $38,000 and eligibility ends at $54,000. For two adults the range is $54,000 to $65,000, for three adults $65,000 to $71,000, and for four or more adults the figure is $71,000. You certify your financial need and supply a CRA Notice of Assessment for the most current tax year.

Yourself as the applicant, your spouse or common-law partner, and anyone else living in the home aged 18 or over. If the applicant is a child under 18, the household income must include the income of the child's parents or guardians and of anyone else in the home aged 18 or over. It is household income rather than personal income, which catches people out where an adult child lives at home.

Then you are eligible but contribute part of the cost. Work out your residual income by subtracting the minimum limit for your household size from your household after-tax net income. That residual sets your percentage: nothing at $0, 10% from $1 to $5,000, 20% from $5,001 to $10,000, 30% from $10,001 to $15,000, 40% from $15,001 to $20,000, 50% from $20,001 to $25,000 and 60% from $25,001 to $30,000. Multiply the total cost of the request by that percentage. On March of Dimes' own example, a two-adult household at $60,000 has a $6,000 residual, which is 20%, so a $12,000 request means $2,400 from them.

After-tax net income, taken from the CRA Notice of Assessment for the most current tax year, added together for every adult in the household. Not gross income, and not what you take home each month. If your income changed materially this year, or you are close to a threshold, call HVMP on 1 877 369-4867 before applying rather than guessing.

Effectively yes. March of Dimes states that HVMP funds basic and essential solutions to a physical barrier related to the applicant's disability and current mobility restrictions as recommended by an occupational therapist. The application accepts either an OT assessment or the March of Dimes Verification of Disability form, but where a therapist is already involved the OT assessment is the stronger document. Ask your family doctor, or call Ontario Health at Home on 310-2222 with no area code, for publicly funded OT services in your area.

A permanent, ongoing or recurring disability that impedes mobility and results in substantial restriction in the activities of daily living, meaning eating, bathing, toileting, transferring and mobility, or in getting in and out of your home to access essential medical care or community services. A temporary injury or general difficulty with stairs will not usually satisfy it.

No. Applicants must be permanent Ontario residents, and the program excludes temporary residents and visitors, naming tourists, students and foreign workers on a work permit. That is a hard criterion rather than a matter of degree. If it applies to you, renting equipment is worth considering, since it carries no residency test.

Yes. Before applying to HVMP, every applicant must make reasonable efforts to access all other available sources of public or private funding, and HVMP funding is considered only after those options have been explored. The form names WSIB, private insurance, ODSP, Veterans Affairs, Non-Insured Health Benefits and the Interim Federal Health Program as examples. Charitable organizations do not count for this purpose.

If the total amount requested exceeds $15,000 you must have a clear plan in place to pay that amount, as required by program guidelines, and the application asks you to identify it. This catches people out on curved stairlifts and platform lifts, so it is worth knowing your likely total before you apply.

You can apply, but you must have your landlord's permission to install the requested equipment, and the application asks the question directly. Get that consent in writing before you apply. It is the most common reason a rented-home application stalls. If a landlord is hesitant, a written specification often helps, and we can provide one.

That is an accepted ownership status on the form. Be aware that if you are applying for a stairlift, modular ramp, vertical platform lift, tub cutout or ceiling track lift and the home is owned by you or by family, HVMP requires a Notice of Assessment for each homeowner listed on the property tax bill, not only your own.

No. Funding is only considered for equipment or modifications that are basic, essential and directly related to removing a barrier, and requests including non-essential or upgraded features are not eligible. We itemise quotes so the basic essential specification is clearly separated from anything optional.

A signed application, proof of income by CRA Notice of Assessment, an OT assessment or the March of Dimes Verification of Disability form, a detailed price quote from a registered vendor or contractor, and proof of home ownership or landlord consent. For a custom or curved stairlift, modular ramp, vertical platform lift or ceiling track lift you also need pre-photographs, drawings and measurements. The checklist tool on this page builds your exact list.

Incomplete application packages are not processed for funding. HVMP makes one attempt to contact you, or your primary contact person if you have named one, to secure missing information. That is why we put effort into producing our part of the package correctly the first time.

You sign it. If someone else signs, they write their full name and certify that they are your power of attorney or substitute decision maker. You can also name a primary contact person, but be aware of what that means: by naming one you acknowledge that you will not receive correspondence about the outcome and that person is authorised to speak and make decisions on your behalf.

The application asks what best describes your reason and allows only one answer. The six options are removing or minimising a life safety risk, preventing hospitalisation or institutionalisation, allowing discharge from hospital, seeking or maintaining employment, allowing a caregiver to meet their responsibilities, and supporting participation in developmental or community activities. Read all six and pick the one that most accurately fits, because it frames the whole application.

Do not. As with ADP, funding programs assess a request before the work is done, and a quote is part of the application rather than an invoice submitted afterwards. If you install first you are likely to be responsible for the full cost. Apply, wait for the decision, then proceed.

Yes. The form asks for your primary means of mobility and specifically for the last mobility device you received funding for through the Ministry of Health's Assistive Devices Program, with walker, manual wheelchair, power wheelchair, scooter, or none as the options. If you have never had an ADP-funded device, that is an available answer.

By email to [email protected], by fax to 519 432-4923, or by post to March of Dimes Canada, 595 Bradley Ave, Unit 202, London, Ontario, N6E 3Z8. Mailed applications are redirected to a P.O. Box, so there is no advantage to priority postage, and registered mail will not speed up receipt because the program cannot sign for it. Email is the sensible option.

The application is yours to sign and submit, and only you or your power of attorney can do that. What we do is produce the parts you cannot: the detailed price quote in the format the program expects, and the photographs, drawings and measurements a survey requires. We do that free, and it is yours to submit whether or not you buy from us.

That depends on the program's current volumes and application windows, and any supplier who quotes you a firm timeline is guessing. What we can influence is whether your package is complete on the first submission, because an incomplete one is not processed and restarts your wait. Ask HVMP directly on 1 877 369-4867 for current timelines.

Then there are other routes and we will map them honestly: the Ontario Seniors' Home Safety Tax Credit for home safety work, WSIB where the need follows a workplace injury, Veterans Affairs, the MS Society, Muscular Dystrophy Canada, and in some cases rental rather than purchase. We would rather tell you which of those is realistic than encourage an application that will fail.