Ontario mayors say provincial housing fund rules unfairly penalize them

Ontario's big cities say they could lose out on millions of dollars in provincial funding for housing-related infrastructure due to factors beyond their control, unless the government makes a simple change to the criteria.

Ontario's big cities say they could lose out on millions of dollars in provincial funding for housing-related infrastructure due to factors beyond their control, unless the government makes a simple change to the criteria.

The provincial government announced in August that it would give up to $1.2 billion over three years under a Building Faster Fund to municipalities that meet at least 80 per cent of their provincially assigned housing targets.

But the Ontario Big City Mayors group has written to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra to ask him to allow municipalities to qualify for a piece of the fund based on how many building permits they issue, rather than on housing starts.

Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, who is the chair of the Ontario Big City Mayors group, said there are tens of thousands of units that have been approved by municipalities but developers haven't started construction because of high interest rates, supply chain issues or labour shortages.

"So municipalities will potentially be penalized for something that is completely out of our control," Meed Ward said in an interview.

"We are quite happy to be judged based on what we actually do. Our response is to say judge us on the number of permits issued, and then look at why developers aren't pulling permits, because there may be a role for the province and even the federal government in addressing that."