Achi news desk-
A tense war of words is brewing between the Trudeau and Ford governments over how affordable homes are delivered in Ontario, with the federal government saying hundreds of millions of dollars are at risk.
On Thursday, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Sean Fraser wrote to his provincial counterpart Paul Calandra to say there was an “urgent need” for the province to rewrite its affordable housing plans.
Fraser said that if Ontario did not revise its plan under a bilateral agreement, it would miss out on $357 million in federal funding.
“Now is not the time for half measures on housing policy,” wrote the federal housing minister.
Calandra quickly responded, accusing the Trudeau government of choosing to “threaten our most vulnerable” by withholding funding.
“Ontario respectfully expects to be treated by the federal government as the true and equal partner,” Calandra wrote.
“Simply withholding funding would be a punitive measure that will benefit no one.”
‘Avoid breach of contract’
The subject of the spat is federal funding under the National Housing Strategy Action Plan.
The plan is a 10-year agreement between the two levels of government initially signed in 2018. Under the agreement, Ontario must submit regular explanations of how it plans to expand the supply of affordable housing in the state
The latest action plan is expected to run from 2022 to 2025, with a deadline for submitting a blueprint extended by a year, Fraser said.
“Ontario’s draft Action Plan 2022-25 fails to deliver on these commitments and appears to fail to recognize the scale of the crisis unfolding in the province,” the federal minister wrote.
“To put it bluntly, the proposed Action Plan is a disappointment.”
Fraser said Ontario is failing to build new affordable housing units, claiming the proposal the province had put forward would see Ontario build only 1,184 of the 19,660 units it was told to create by half way through 2025.
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“This leaves 94% of the target to be reached during the last 3 years of the agreement, which is not realistic,” said the letter.
“Ontario is way behind all the other provinces and territories.”
Fraser said that if a revised plan was not submitted by the end of the day on Friday, funding from his government would cease. He said that the federal government would need until the end of the month to analyze a new version of the plan.
‘Consider carefully what I have presented’
In his reply to Fraser, Calandra said the federal minister failed to consider the changing economic landscape and areas in Ontario’s housing stock that he argued were unique.
“The federal position on NHS funding does not reflect some of the key factors that should be considered when considering what has brought us to this point,” Calandra wrote, pointing to rising costs, supply chains and issues labour.
He said Ontario has focused much of its effort on renovating old affordable housing units, arguing that the province has the oldest and most dilapidated affordable housing in the country.
“By focusing on the repair backlog, Ontario has successfully prevented the risk to affordability and unit availability for tens of thousands of families,” Calandra wrote.
He also pointed to a clause in the agreement between the two governments that allowed the terms and targets to be adjusted “based on the progress made so far,” asking the federal housing minister to relent.
“I hope you will carefully consider what I have presented above and the attached NHS Action Plan which sets out solutions that can address our common concerns,” Calandra wrote.
A spokesman for Calandra said Ottawa was “playing politics” with the housing money.
“The federal government’s unfair demands do not recognize Ontario’s unique role in providing social housing to Canadians and the unique structure we use to better deliver services through service managers,” they said in a statement.
The exchange comes as the two governments also look set to embark on separate approaches to density in Ontario’s cities.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford this week appeared to rule out allowing quadruplexes across the province in new housing legislation, a move Calandra admitted he had considered.
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Premier Ford clarifies quadruplex comments despite insisting it would be a ‘disaster’
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‘Colossal mistake’: Premier Ford overrules Ontario-wide quadruplex policy
In two separate news conferences, the premier said he felt four-storey buildings and four-storey buildings would spark anger in suburban communities. He said allowing them across the state would be a “huge mistake” if he let it go through.
At a housing announcement in Richmond Hill on Thursday, Ford said the policy was “off the table” for his government after weeks of active discussions at Queen’s Park over whether developers should be allowed to build up to four units on one property without municipality. approval.
“I can assure you 1,000 percent, that you go into communities and start putting four-story, six-story, eight-story buildings deep into communities, there will be a lot of yelling and screaming,” Ford said.
“We’re not going to go into communities and (build) four-storey or six-storey buildings next to residents.”
Calandra said Thursday that he did not “intend to dictate how municipalities should be meeting their goals” but said he had no problem with municipalities allowing quadruplexes.
The federal government, on the other hand, is writing to cities across the country, offering them large sums of money if they agree to implement various zoning changes, including allowing quadruplexes within their boundaries as a matter of right.
On Friday, as Ford reiterated his opposition, Fraser shared photos of various quad configurations.
“Warning: the following images of a quadruplex may frighten some politicians,” said a social media post from Fraser’s official account. “They want to ensure that these family homes remain illegal to build.”
