London Mayor Josh Morgan city staff as well as nonprofit organizations will have federal funding that will improve homes being built across Canada. This Tuesday Justice Minister Arif Virani along with Liberal MP Anita Anand made an announcement stating that $6 billion will be used for a new housing and infrastructure fund with an additional $400 million Federal housing accelerator fund.
The federal government will provide provinces with $6 billion in funding for wastewater and sewer-related infrastructure to support housing development. In exchange, the provinces agree to terms that allow fourplexes in all municipalities as Premier Doug Ford says is right now “off the table.” Meanwhile, $1 billion of that fund will go straight to municipalities, which is excellent news, according to Morgan.
The London mayor says he’s never seen this much construction all at once as he said “Twenty cranes in the sky, 7,100 units of high density of one form or another under construction. “We cannot build the next 7,100 units without getting more infrastructure in the ground to support the next iteration of building in this community.” Right now it is unsure how much London will be receiving.
Morgan went on to say “if you think about the Housing Accelerator Fund, that was a $4 billion program where London received about $74 million” He also mentioned that he doesn’t know what the allocation will be to this $6 billion fund but will be significant millions of dollars. Morgan says “$1 billion will be available immediately and the other $5 billion is subject to sign and agree with the province in certain conditions.”
Municipalities will ultimately receive funds from the provincial portion of the fund, according to Virani, even if the majority of the money is intended to go to provinces that might or might not fulfill the standards needed to obtain support.
Virani adds “We need ambition from the province, not just individual municipalities,” Virani said. “If we don’t see it, we’ll deliver the money directly to the cities that want it, because this is a crisis.”
London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos has stated that $400 million for the accelerator fund will be meant for small towns that were unable to qualify before funding ran out, and as such, London will not be eligible to apply for more housing on the accelerator funding.
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