Provincial funding can be used to invest in housing- or community-enabling infrastructure
Today, Premier Doug Ford announced Ontario will be providing Ottawa with $37,502,947 in funding through the Building Faster Fund as the city has made substantial progress towards meeting its 2023 housing target, breaking ground on a total of 10,313 new housing units last year.
“This announcement is another clear sign of our government’s commitment to Ottawa, building on last week’s historic new deal,” said Premier Doug Ford. “I’m so proud of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and his council colleagues for making substantial progress toward their housing targets and am glad to reward them for that success. My challenge to Mayor Sutcliffe and to every mayor in Ontario is to get even more homes built in the coming years so we can make life more affordable and keep the dream of homeownership alive for families across the province. We’ll be there to support you every step of the way.”
Announced in August 2023, the Building Faster Fund is a three-year, $1.2 billion program that is designed to encourage municipalities to address the housing supply crisis. The fund rewards municipalities that make significant progress against their targets by providing funding for housing-enabling and community-enabling infrastructure. Funding is provided to municipalities that have reached at least 80 per cent of their provincially assigned housing target for the year with increased funding for municipalities that exceed their target.
“I’m very grateful to Premier Ford and the Ontario government for this much-needed support,” said Mark Sutcliffe, Mayor of the City of Ottawa. “This provincial funding will help Ottawa create the conditions for builders and community agencies to build homes faster. We have an ambitious but achievable target that I believe we can reach by working together.”
The Building Faster Fund includes $120 million for small, rural and northern municipalities to help build housing-enabling infrastructure and prioritize projects that speed up the increase of housing supply. The government has also announced $1.8 billion in support for housing-enabling infrastructure projects as part of its 2024 Budget: Building a Better Ontario.
“We should all be proud of the leadership role Ottawa has taken by breaking ground on 10,313 homes in 2023, more than any other municipality in the province with the exception of Toronto. I am especially proud of the diverse growth in the Carleton riding, which is a direct reflection of the City of Ottawa and the Province of Ontario. The suburbs of Stittsville and Riverside South are among the fastest growing communities in the city, while Manotick, Richmond and Greely have been exemplary in the way they have planned major housing development projects that will protect and enhance their rural village character.”
– Goldie Ghamari
MPP for Carleton
Quick Facts
- The Government of Ontario and the City of Ottawa have reached a new deal that recognizes and invests in the city’s unique needs as Canada’s national capital and eastern Ontario’s economic hub, helping ensure the city’s sustainable, long-term growth and prosperity. Ontario is providing up to $543 million in operating and capital funding tailored to fuelling Ottawa’s economic recovery and accelerating revitalization of the downtown core.
- Ontario is investing historic amounts in housing- and community-enabling infrastructure to get more homes built across the province including the Building Faster Fund and the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund. The province recently announced a new $1 billion Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program as well a quadrupling of the provincial Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to $825 million.
- In 2023, Ontario reached 99 per cent of its target of 110,000 new homes, which includes housing starts, additional residential units and new and upgraded long-term care beds.
- Ontario broke ground on 18,992 rental starts in 2023, the highest number of rental starts on record.
- The province saw nearly 10,000 additional residential units created in 2023 – which includes changing single family homes into multi-unit residences or converting commercial office space into residential use – and nearly 10,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds.
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