Ottawa Construction News staff writer
To help the City of Ottawa achieve its goal of building 151,000 new homes by 2032, the Ontario government has announced funding of $37.5 million for the construction of 10,313 new homes in 2023.
“This provincial funding will help Ottawa create the conditions for builders and community agencies to build homes faster,” Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said in an April 5 statement. “We have an ambitious but achievable target that I believe we can reach by working together.”
The funding is being provided through the Building Faster Fund, a $1.2-billion program that is designed to encourage municipalities across Ontario to address the housing supply crisis by providing funding for housing- and community-enabling infrastructure projects that are aimed at speeding up the housing supply process.
“I applaud the work being done by Ottawa and all the other municipalities that are making substantial progress toward their housing targets and I’m proud to see these communities helping lead the province when it comes to building homes,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Ottawa has reached 99 per cent of its target of 110,000 new homes for 2023, with the city recording the highest number of rental starts in a recorded history of 18,992 in 2023.
“Today’s provincial funding announcement of $37.5 million for the City of Ottawa underscores the Ontario government’s dedication to supporting the construction of new housing supply and improving housing affordability in the region,” said Jason Burggraaf, executive director of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association (GOHBA).
“This funding, allocated through the Building Faster Fund, is a direct response to Ottawa’s strides toward its 2023 target for new home construction. The GOHBA welcomes the positive impact that today’s announcement will have on the development of housing in the region.”
The province has also announced $1 billion in Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program funding and a quadrupling of the provincial Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to $825 million as part of its plan to reach its goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.
The funding announced on April 5 will help the city of Ottawa achieve its goal of building 151,000 new homes by 2032, and is part of a broader provincial effort to address the housing crisis by increasing housing supply and improving housing affordability across Ontario.
