Achi news desk-
Justin Trudeau’s government is standing firm on its threat to withhold funding from the Ontario government due to a lack of planned affordable housing.
“I don’t think it’s responsible for me to hand over funding for the purpose of building homes, for homes that are never going to be built,” Housing Minister Sean Fraser told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.
His comments are the latest in a war of words with his provincial counterpart over $357 million in funding earmarked for affordable units.
In 2018, the Doug Ford government signed a 10-year bilateral agreement promising to provide 19,660 affordable housing units.
In a letter sent to Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra last week, Fraser said the province’s count is significantly lower, at about 1,184 new units by the end of 2024-2025.
“Ontario is lagging significantly behind all other provinces and territories,” Fraser wrote on March 21. “This leaves 94 per cent of the target to be met in the final three years the agreement, which is not realistic.”
Since then, Fraser said the province has updated its housing plan to reach 28 per cent of its goal. However, that number is still too low, he said.
“Typically, governments across Canada have committed about two-thirds of the total funding,” he said of Ontario’s progress. “If there isn’t a clear path for the Ontario Government to meet all of the commitment they agreed to with their eyes open, and they shouldn’t expect to receive the full amount of money.”
Calandra has argued that the province is working to repair and renovate affordable units as well as build them, noting that the province has one of the oldest housing stocks in the country.
If those units were counted, he added, Ontario would reach nearly 60 percent of its goal.
“We remain willing to be at the table but our position is not going to change,” he said. “They change the yardsticks every day and it’s starting to get frustrating.”
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) sided with Calandra arguing that withholding this funding “would have devastating effects on low-income families and individuals” while also further exacerbating the housing crisis.
“Ultimately, we need to fundamentally rethink the way we fund community housing in Ontario and in Canada. But unexpected funding cuts in the midst of a homelessness crisis are not the answer,” they wrote in a letter to Fraser Tuesday.
The federal minister, for his part, confirmed that the money will be used to build affordable housing in Ontario—it may not be provided through the provincial government.
It is important to note that the Ford government has been using a similar tactic for its Build Faster Fund to encourage development, withholding funding from municipalities that have not met their goals.
The City of Mississauga lost about $30 million because it didn’t have enough housing starts for 2023, even though local officials argued they had permits pending approval.
