BRAMPTON — On Friday, Premier Doug Ford announced Ontario will be providing Brampton with over $25.5 million in funding through the Building Faster Fund as the city has made substantial progress towards meeting its 2023 housing target. Brampton broke ground on a total of 7,028 new housing units last year.
“Brampton has shown it can get it done on housing and we are proud to reward them for their success,” said Premier Doug Ford. “I’m so proud of Mayor Brown and his council colleagues for leading Peel Region in progress toward their housing targets last year. My challenge to Mayor Brown 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 want to thank Premier Ford and the Province of Ontario for the funding received today, as part of the Building Faster Fund,” said Mayor Patrick Brown. “This is a significant step toward improving Brampton’s housing supply crisis by providing more attainable housing options for residents, creating a future that is more stable and secure. Last year, the city made significant strides toward hitting our housing target and this year, we anticipate building activity will continue to be strong. As the fastest growing big city in the country, investing in housing isn’t just about building the structures, it is about building communities and ensuring residents always have somewhere to call home.”
In the coming weeks, the province will announce Building Faster Fund rewards for all municipalities that met, exceeded or achieved 80 per cent of their assigned housing targets in 2023. Any unspent funding will be made available for housing-enabling infrastructure to all municipalities, including those that have already received funding as a result of reaching their targets, through an application process. In addition, ten per cent – or $120 million – of the Building Faster Fund is being set aside for small, rural and northern municipalities to help build housing-enabling infrastructure and prioritize projects that speed up the increase of housing supply.
“I applaud the work being done by Brampton and all the other municipalities that are making substantial progress toward their 2031 housing targets,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “My message to mayors across this province is that we must continue to work together and build on our progress on making homeownership a reality for everyone. We will give you the tools you need to succeed in our shared goal.”
Quick Facts
- New housing starts, new and upgraded long-term care beds and additional residential units created by renovating or converting existing residential and non-residential buildings are all being considered when calculating if a municipality has reached its housing target.
- 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.
- Ontario has introduced significant investments in municipalities to support housing-enabling infrastructure, including $200 million over three years for the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and the $400 million annual Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund.
SOURCE Province of Ontario
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