Ottawa/CMEDIA: The Canadian government reportedly announced Friday that it would reduce Toronto’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) by $10 million as its commitment under the agreement had not been fully met.
“Our government is committed to removing barriers and cutting red tape to enable more housing development in communities across Canada…demonstrating the results of the Housing Accelerator Fund and being transparent…as we work to build more homes across Canada,” Housing Minister Gregor Robertson said in a statement.
Although Toronto made significant progress on some of the delayed housing initiatives, it fell short on one, Robertson stated in his letter to Mayor Olivia Chow on Fri.
An HAF agreement was signed by Toronto in 2023 with the federal government which earmarked $471.1 million to build 60,980 new homes over three years.
Having already received $235.56 million of that money, Toronto is supposed to get a third payment in March and a final payment at the end of the year, provided it fulfils its goal of building 60,980 net new permitted homes by then.
In a statement, the mayor’s office said Chow will continue to work with the minister and the federal government to achieve this.
“Next year, the City of Toronto will break ground on 28,000 rental units, with nearly 10,000 of them affordable and rent-controlled homes that Mayor Chow has secured through financial incentives…We have made it possible to build more small apartment buildings on major streets, more mid-rise buildings on avenues, and even more density around transit stations,” Chow’s office said.
Apart from Toronto, the federal government also slashed funding to Vaughan’s by $7.4 million as it failed in several of its commitments under the agreement.
Vaughan signed an HAF agreement in 2023 and was allocated $59 million to create more than 1,700 new housing units and incentivize thousands of additional homes over the next three years.
“Vaughan has met the overwhelming majority of its milestones under our Housing Accelerator Fund agreement, and we are on track to deliver on the remaining commitments this year,” Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca said in a statement and added,
“Notwithstanding today’s decision, we will continue to work with all partners to ensure that we build more homes as soon as possible, in particular for first-time homebuyers and young families in our city.”
