The federal government is launching a new $6 billion "Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund" meant to speed up construction and upgrade key components needed to support building more homes (opens in a new tab) such as waste and water infrastructure.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the funding, alongside Housing Minister Sean Fraser in Dartmouth – to the sound of protesters chanting in the background – as the Liberals' pre-budget spending pledge tour continues.
According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the fund will include $1 billion for "urgent infrastructure needs" such as improving wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste systems.
The remaining $5 billion will be set aside for the yet-to-be-negotiated agreements with provinces and territories.
The federal government will require provinces and territories to commit to a series of actions meant to increase Canada's housing supply in order to access this funding.
Municipalities have to allow more "missing middle" homes such as duplexes, triplexes, and townhouses; A three-year freeze will have to be implemented on increasing development charges for municipalities with populations larger than 300,000; Incoming changes to the National Building Code aimed at supporting more accessible, affordable, and environmentally-friendly housing options will have to be adopted; and
Permitting pre-qualified or "as-of-right" construction, where developments conform to existing building zoning approvals and don't require discretionary approval, for the federal housing design catalogue.
As for the timing of this new funding, provinces will have until Jan. 1, 2025 to secure a deal with the federal government, while territories will have until April 1, 2025.
"If a province or territory does not secure an agreement by their respective deadline, their funding allocation will be transferred to the municipal stream," reads the PMO release.
Beyond this new fund, Trudeau is also committing to top-up the existing $4 billion "Housing Accelerator Fund" with an additional $400 million which the federal Liberals say will allow more municipalities to get in on the initiative meant to reduce red tape and speed up new construction.
To date, nearly 180 agreements have been signed across Canada to fast-track more than 750,000 new homes. The Liberals estimate the added funding will help speed up the construction of 12,000 new homes over the next three years.
"This is how we'll address the shortage of housing options for Canadians. And this is how we'll make it fairer for younger generations, who feel like they're falling behind because housing costs are too high," Trudeau said. "We're making a lot of progress cutting red tape to fast-track the construction of hundreds of thousands of homes, but we want to go even faster."
