Federal funding for social housing will be redirected from Ontario to municipalities

Ontario hasn't been building social housing

Laura Stone on Twitter

In 2017, the federal government allocated $15B in new funding for social housing, through the National Housing Strategy. This included funding to build 60,000 new homes and repair 240,000 existing homes, as well as $2B for a subsidy for low-income renters, to be matched by the provinces.

The National Housing Strategy included negotiating agreements with each of the provinces. At the time, the most acute housing shortages were in BC and Ontario.

In March, Sean Fraser sent an email to Paul Calandra, the new Ontario housing minister, saying that Ontario’s plan to meet its 10-year target of about 20,000 additional homes was far too weak.

Looking at Ontario’s 2022-2023 action plan:

Note 2 says: “Target will be met in the later years of the NHS.”

Ontario’s plan for 2019 to 2022 also has zeros for the year-by-year targets.

For comparison, see BC’s most recent action plan:

Ontario risks $357M in housing funds without revised plan: feds. CBC, March 22.

News from Monday: Ottawa says Ontario failed to meet affordable housing goals, won’t send funds to province. Laura Stone, Globe and Mail, May 6.

The federal government says it will withhold $357-million in affordable-housing funding from Ontario and instead send it to city service managers responsible for the issue, after Ottawa said the province failed to commit to a target of building almost 20,000 units.

In a letter to service managers sent on May 1, Mr. Fraser said the full funding that was meant to flow through the province will be delivered instead directly by the federal government. He said he plans to meet with the service managers to ensure the money flows quickly.

In an interview, Mr. Fraser said Ontario has only committed to building 28 per cent of its target and, as federal money flowed, the province reduced its own investment in new community housing.

“I can’t be in a position where we transfer funding for affordable housing that will never be built,” he said.

Mr. Fraser said his government wants to deal with provinces directly, and he believes Ontario wants to build more homes: “We seem to have a sticking point when it comes to affordable housing for low-income families, in addition to addressing the needs of middle-class families by building more homes in the market.”