Toronto earns $114 million for exceeding 2023 housing target
The Ontario government has provided the City of Toronto with $114 million in infrastructure funding as a reward for exceeding its 2023 housing target.
Premier Doug Ford announced the news on February 22.
“Toronto has shown it can get it done on housing and we are proud to reward them for their success,” said Ford. “My challenge to Mayor Chow and to every mayor in Ontario is to get even more homes built in the coming years so we can make life more affordable and keep the dream of homeownership alive for families across the province.”
Toronto broke ground on a total of 31,656 new housing units last year, unlocking an additional $38 million by exceeding their 2023 target by 51 percent.
The funding is being provided through the province’s Building Faster Fund, a three-year, $1.2 billion program that is designed to encourage municipalities to address the housing supply crisis. The fund rewards municipalities that make significant progress against their targets by providing funding for housing-enabling and community-enabling infrastructure. Funding is provided to municipalities that have reached at least 80 percent of their provincially assigned housing target for the year with increased funding for municipalities that exceed their target.
“It’s harder than ever for people in Toronto to find a home they can afford,” said Mayor Olivia Chow. "We are committed to addressing the housing crisis by building more homes of all kinds, faster. Toronto has an ambitious plan to speed up approval times and build 65,000 rental homes in the coming years. The Building Faster Fund will help us meet and exceed our housing targets and provide the critical infrastructure that creates great neighbourhoods for people to live in."
The province plans to make similar announcements in the coming weeks for those municipalities that met, exceeded or achieved 80 percent of their assigned housing targets in 2023. It says new housing starts, new and upgraded long-term care beds, and additional residential units created by renovating or converting existing residential and non-residential buildings are all considered when calculating if a municipality has reached its housing target.
“I applaud the work being done by Toronto and all the other municipalities that have met or exceeded their housing targets,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “Our government is committed to building at least 1.5 million homes by 2031 and I look forward to unveiling the next steps in our plan to build more homes with the release of our fifth housing supply action plan next month.”
In 2023, Ontario reached 99 percent of its target of 110,000 new homes. That figure includes housing starts, additional residential units, and new and upgraded long-term care beds. Builders in the province also broke ground on 18,992 rental starts in 2023, the highest number of rental starts on record.