diff --git a/contrib/rackspace/rackspace/resources/cloud_loadbalancer.py b/contrib/rackspace/rackspace/resources/cloud_loadbalancer.py
index a94846bfcf..60f5db12df 100644
--- a/contrib/rackspace/rackspace/resources/cloud_loadbalancer.py
+++ b/contrib/rackspace/rackspace/resources/cloud_loadbalancer.py
@@ -939,7 +939,7 @@ class CloudLoadBalancer(resource.Resource):
     def _public_ip(self, lb):
         for ip in lb.virtual_ips:
             if ip.type == 'PUBLIC':
-                return unicode(ip.address)
+                return six.text_type(ip.address)
 
     def _resolve_attribute(self, key):
         if self.resource_id:
diff --git a/contrib/rackspace/rackspace/resources/cloudnetworks.py b/contrib/rackspace/rackspace/resources/cloudnetworks.py
index 3869d9392d..30dd6aa837 100644
--- a/contrib/rackspace/rackspace/resources/cloudnetworks.py
+++ b/contrib/rackspace/rackspace/resources/cloudnetworks.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from heat.engine import constraints
 from heat.engine import properties
 from heat.engine import resource
 from heat.engine import support
+import six
 
 try:
     from pyrax.exceptions import NetworkInUse  # noqa
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ class CloudNetwork(resource.Resource):
     def _resolve_attribute(self, name):
         net = self.network()
         if net:
-            return unicode(getattr(net, name))
+            return six.text_type(getattr(net, name))
         return ""
 
 
diff --git a/heat/common/exception.py b/heat/common/exception.py
index ec565a7bb8..6a374b7a84 100644
--- a/heat/common/exception.py
+++ b/heat/common/exception.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import sys
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 import six
 from six.moves.urllib import parse as urlparse
+from six import reraise as raise_
 
 from heat.common.i18n import _
 from heat.common.i18n import _LE
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ def wrap_exception(notifier=None, publisher_id=None, event_type=None,
                                     payload)
 
                 # re-raise original exception since it may have been clobbered
-                raise exc_info[0], exc_info[1], exc_info[2]
+                raise_(exc_info[0], exc_info[1], exc_info[2])
 
         return six.wraps(f)(wrapped)
     return inner
@@ -116,13 +117,13 @@ class HeatException(Exception):
                 LOG.error("%s: %s" % (name, value))  # noqa
 
             if _FATAL_EXCEPTION_FORMAT_ERRORS:
-                raise exc_info[0], exc_info[1], exc_info[2]
+                raise_(exc_info[0], exc_info[1], exc_info[2])
 
     def __str__(self):
-        return unicode(self.message).encode('UTF-8')
+        return six.text_type(self.message).encode('UTF-8')
 
     def __unicode__(self):
-        return unicode(self.message)
+        return six.text_type(self.message)
 
     def __deepcopy__(self, memo):
         return self.__class__(**self.kwargs)
diff --git a/heat/db/sqlalchemy/api.py b/heat/db/sqlalchemy/api.py
index ad72a40a87..c1d6cea04f 100644
--- a/heat/db/sqlalchemy/api.py
+++ b/heat/db/sqlalchemy/api.py
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ def _decrypt(enc_value, method):
     decryptor = getattr(crypt, method)
     value = decryptor(enc_value)
     if value is not None:
-        return unicode(value, 'utf-8')
+        return six.text_type(value, 'utf-8')
 
 
 def resource_data_get_by_key(context, resource_id, key):
diff --git a/heat/engine/cfn/functions.py b/heat/engine/cfn/functions.py
index 95bf8c5060..205f937910 100644
--- a/heat/engine/cfn/functions.py
+++ b/heat/engine/cfn/functions.py
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ class Replace(function.Function):
                 raise TypeError(_('"%s" params must be strings or numbers') %
                                 self.fn_name)
 
-            return string.replace(placeholder, unicode(value))
+            return string.replace(placeholder, six.text_type(value))
 
         return reduce(replace, six.iteritems(mapping), template)
 
diff --git a/heat/engine/function.py b/heat/engine/function.py
index d721bedf00..2ceaf95e2a 100644
--- a/heat/engine/function.py
+++ b/heat/engine/function.py
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ def dependencies(snippet, path=''):
 
     elif isinstance(snippet, collections.Mapping):
         def mkpath(key):
-            return '.'.join([path, unicode(key)])
+            return '.'.join([path, six.text_type(key)])
 
         deps = (dependencies(value,
                              mkpath(key)) for key, value in snippet.items())
diff --git a/heat/engine/scheduler.py b/heat/engine/scheduler.py
index a4a95b1d67..0a221461a2 100644
--- a/heat/engine/scheduler.py
+++ b/heat/engine/scheduler.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from oslo_log import log as logging
 from oslo_utils import encodeutils
 from oslo_utils import excutils
 import six
+from six import reraise as raise_
 
 from heat.common.i18n import _
 from heat.common.i18n import _LI
@@ -118,8 +119,8 @@ class ExceptionGroup(Exception):
         self.exceptions = list(exceptions)
 
     def __str__(self):
-        return unicode([unicode(ex).encode('utf-8')
-                        for ex in self.exceptions]).encode('utf-8')
+        return six.text_type([six.text_type(ex).encode('utf-8')
+                              for ex in self.exceptions]).encode('utf-8')
 
     def __unicode__(self):
         return six.text_type(map(six.text_type, self.exceptions))
@@ -397,7 +398,7 @@ class DependencyTaskGroup(object):
                 raise ExceptionGroup(v for t, v, tb in raised_exceptions)
             else:
                 exc_type, exc_val, traceback = raised_exceptions[0]
-                raise exc_type, exc_val, traceback
+                raise_(exc_type, exc_val, traceback)
 
     def cancel_all(self, grace_period=None):
         for r in six.itervalues(self._runners):