Toronto is about to get a major influx of cash to help address the city’s housing affordability crisis.
Mayor Olivia Chow will be joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for an announcement on Thursday morning. A senior government source tells the Canadian Press the federal government will be giving the city $471 million as part of the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).
“We’ve got an announcement coming this morning that will invest hundreds of millions of dollars,” says Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser. “More important than the number of dollars is the number of homes we can add to the city’s stock. Tens of thousands of homes as a result of systemic changes.”
The $4-billion fund asks for housing plans from local governments, and once approved, provides funding upfront to ensure the timely building of new homes, as well as additional funds upon delivering results. The fund is designed to speed up the building to new housing to ease soaring prices and protect rental stock.
Some of the changes Ottawa has pushed for include denser zoning and faster issuance of permits.
“We’ve made it very difficult to build homes in this country through municipal red tape,” Fraser says. “Toronto’s a good example, the biggest city in the country with the slowest permitting process.”
“We don’t have to accept that that’s the way it has to be.”
Thursday’s announcement comes after Chow expressed disappointment when the Trudeau government released its fall economic statement last month, saying it failed to meet the ambition of Toronto’s housing plan with the housing funding initiatives outlined in the budget not kicking in until 2025.
She argued the city needs more urgency to help tackle an ongoing crisis, citing the hundreds of refugees sleeping on the city’s streets. Chow has previously said the HAF could help remedy the issue.
On Monday, officials announced that Mississauga would be getting $113 million as part of the fund to build over 3,000 housing units over three years.
Trudeau is also scheduled meet with Chow in her City Hall office on Thursday afternoon.
Chow and Trudeau will be joined by the federal housing minister for the announcement at 11:45 a.m. The prime minister is expected to meet with Chow at 2:15 p.m.
With files from the Canadian Press
