Ottawa to launch $6 billion infrastructure to tackle housing crisis in Canada
In a housing announcement on April 2, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the upcoming federal budget is set to include an infrastructure fund of $6 billion; however, in order to access the funding, provinces and territories would have to agree to a set of conditions.
The announcement was made in Dartmouth, N.S., alongside Housing Minister Sean Fraser.
“Building more homes faster — this is how we’ll address the shortage of housing options for Canadians, and this is how we’ll make it fairer for younger generations who feel like they’re falling behind because housing costs are too high,” said Trudeau.
The federal government is planning to make $1 billion available for urgent infrastructure needs, with that money flowing in the 2024-25 fiscal year, while the other $5 billion will be meant for supporting long-term priorities.
To access the money, provinces and territories would have to adopt certain policies such as the renters’ bill of rights, implementing a three-year freeze on increasing development charges, adopting upcoming changes to the national building code and more.
The government noted that the deadline to secure a deal will be January 1, 2025, for provinces and April 1, 2025, for territories and if they don’t secure a deal by then, their funding will be transferred to the municipal stream of the infrastructure fund.
In response to the housing announcement, the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) made a statement applauding the federal government and noted that the top up of $400 million to the Housing Accelerate Fund and $6 billion for a new Housing Infrastructure Fund is what is needed to support housing for Canadians.
“Challenges surrounding existing infrastructure and building new infrastructure, particularly water and waste-water, have created significant development bottlenecks in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA),” said Dave Wilkes, president and CEO of BILD. “This commitment by the federal government to invest in critical infrastructure is vital to unlocking housing supply to meet Canada’s rapidly growing population, enabling more homes to be built and will help address the housing affordability crisis.”
BILD noted that added costs from fees, taxes and charges from all levels of government add 25 per cent to the cost of an average single-family home in the GTA and are driving up housing costs. BILD also says that freezing development charges will stop the upward trajectory of these costs and provide relief to new home buyers.
BILD acknowledges the commitment from the federal and provincial governments to enhancing housing-supportive infrastructure, and noted it is “exactly this type of support and this type of infrastructure that is needed to meet Ontario’s housing objective of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.”
With Files from the Canadian Press