Sarnia — On Wednesday, Rob Flack, Associate Minister of Housing, announced that Ontario will be providing Sarnia with $400,000 in funding through the Building Faster Fund as the municipality has exceeded its 2023 housing target, breaking ground on a total of 254 new housing units last year.
“Our government is making historic investments in infrastructure to give municipalities the tools they need to ensure that every resident has an affordable place to call home,” said Rob Flack, Associate Minister of Housing. “Sarnia and all other municipalities that have met or exceeded their housing targets should be proud of the work they have done to get shovels in the ground faster.”
Excited to be in #Sarnia with @bobbaileyPC to present this $400,000 award to @mayorofsarnia Mike Bradley.
The Building Faster Fund helps cities like Sarnia keep getting more homes built faster for Ontario families.
Read more: https://t.co/PkbXKp8AQJ pic.twitter.com/uvonGXXC5D
— Rob Flack (@RobFlackEML) March 13, 2024
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.
“With the present and continued growth of the population of the City of Sarnia predicted for the next decade and beyond as we continue to diversify our economy, the provincial funds announced today will help Sarnia to continue to expand, to diversify, and to be an inclusive and welcoming community to live, work, and play,” said Mike Bradley, Mayor of Sarnia. “The funding is an endorsement of the city greatly exceeding its housing targets because of the planning of city council and city staff over the last decade to provide the support and infrastructure to support investment, growth and to add to the housing supply.”
Any unspent funding from the Building Faster Fund 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’m extremely pleased to see the City of Sarnia exceeding their housing targets,” said Bob Bailey, MPP for Sarnia-Lambton. “With the support of these provincial funds, I look forward to hearing about even more housing starts in Sarnia in the year ahead.”
Quick Facts
- 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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