The federal government announced $32 million in funding for affordable housing in Ottawa on December 8.

The money will be allocated to the city through the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), a subset of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC’s) National Housing Strategy. The RHI allocates $1 billion to the construction of up to 3,000 permanent, new affordable housing units for vulnerable people and populations.

The City of Ottawa will use the funding to build 77 supportive housing units for single men and women, and 32 affordable housing units for families experiencing homelessness. The projects will include a focus on Indigenous residents, women, newcomer and Black families. 

The city also submitted three projects for consideration under the Project Stream of the RHI. The stream allocates $500 million to application-based projects from provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous governing bodies and organizations, and non-profit organizations.

If approved, these would be in partnership with an additional three non-profit agencies and include a total of 62 units of affordable or transitional housing, with a continued focus on Indigenous residents and women, as well as families.  

"Investments with our municipal partners like the City of Ottawa under the Rapid Housing Initiative's Major Cities Stream will go a long way to effectively support those who need it most by quickly providing new affordable housing units to vulnerable individuals and families to keep them safe,” said Ahmed Hussen, the minister responsible for CMHC.

CMHC’s National Housing Strategy is a 10-year plan that will see more than $55 billion invested to create 125,000 new housing units, and repair and renew more than 300,000 more.