Federal government and Ontario reach $357M deal for affordable housing

Ottawa and Queen’s Park have reached a deal ensuring $357 million in federal funds will flow to the province to build affordable housing.

 

After months of negotiations — and an acrimonious letter made public in the Star — federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser and provincial Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra on Tuesday announced the impasse had been cleared.

 

“Solving the housing crisis requires a Team Canada approach. We will continue to work together, along with our municipal partners, to make sure the people of Ontario have the homes they need,” Fraser and Calandra said in a joint statement.

 

“Canada and Ontario recognize that our collaboration is imperative to solving the housing crisis. That is why we are pleased to share that an agreement has been reached on a revised action plan from Ontario that will unlock $357 million of federal funding under the National Housing Strategy,” they said.

Under the bilateral agreement between the governments of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford, Queen’s Park has submitted a revised “action plan” detailing the affordable housing projects that are receiving provincial funding.

 

The province’s revamped 2022-25 plan forecasts at least 8,644 more affordable housing units will be built by March 31, 2025.

 

But Ford’s government could actually meet its original federally mandated target of 19,660 new units by that deadline.

 

“Ontario has also included new measures in its action plan which better reflect Ontario’s funding delivery model, as the only jurisdiction which flows the funds through municipal service managers,” the joint statement says.

“These measures include: establishing provincial supply targets with service managers, directing funding toward new projects, setting annual goals, and implementing robust data collection and reporting mechanisms.”

 

The province will also submit a 2025-28 “action plan” to Ottawa by the end of this year in order to secure additional federal funding for the final years of the decade-long $70-billion National Housing Strategy agreement.

 

In March, Fraser had warned Calandra that Ford’s failure to meet federal affordable housing targets was jeopardizing the $357 million in funding.

 

The province had argued Ontario wasn’t being treated fairly because its affordable housing stock is the oldest in Canada.

That means necessary repairs to existing units have come at the expense of building new affordable housing.

 

“Should Ontario fail to provide a revised plan demonstrating how it intends to meet its housing targets under the agreement, the province will not receive $357 million intended for affordable housing from the federal government,” Fraser chided Calandra two months ago.

 

“Speaking frankly, the proposed action plan is a disappointment. It shows almost no progress toward reaching the affordable housing expansion target, and proposes to achieve only 1,184 units of the 19,660 required by the end of 2024-25,” he wrote March 21.

 

“This leaves 94 per cent of the target to be achieved during the last three years of the agreement, which is not realistic.”

 

While Fraser had insisted “no further extensions are possible” beyond March 31 — because Ottawa had already given Queen’s Park an additional year to revise its plan in 2023 — he relented after Calandra pointed out that was punitive and would hurt the most vulnerable.

 

 

 

 

This article was first reported by The Star