'Jurisdictional creep': Doug Ford slams feds for giving municipalities funding for housing

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the federal government to end a program that offers municipalities funding to boost their housing supply, suggesting that Ottawa is overstepping its jurisdiction.

“You can’t have a federal government going into a certain town or certain city and dumping funding and not even discussing it with the province,” Ford said in Halifax at a meeting of Canada’s premiers on Monday.

“That's unacceptable. We call it jurisdictional creep.”

The program in question is the Housing Accelerator Fund, a $4-billion pledge meant to incentivize municipalities to update their zoning and permit systems to allow for faster construction of housing.

Multiple Ontario municipalities have already signed agreements with the federal government, including London ($74 million) and Vaughan ($59 million).

The City of Mississauga has been working with the federal government to secure $120 million in funding. The money was revoked after Mississauga city council voted to prevent four-unit homes, otherwise known as fourplexes, from being built within city limits.

Mayor Bonnie Crombie reversed the decision using strong mayor powers in hopes of getting the federal government to reconsider the funding.

The Housing Accelerator Fund was first promised during the 2021 federal election and was launched in March 2023.

Ford told reporters that while he believes the province can get a “better bang for the buck” if it works with the federal government directly, this fund isn’t the answer.

“We look forward to hopefully them changing their mind not surprising each and every one of us one morning when they're in A-B-C town, dropping millions of dollars, when that's not their jurisdiction. That's our jurisdiction,” he said.

“We welcome their help and hopefully, they put an end to this.”

The Ontario government has also set up a three-year, $1.2 billion fund to provide municipalities up to $400 million per year if they meet certain housing targets.

Each city’s progress will be evaluated by comparing housing starts and residential units created that calendar year with the annual assigned targets.

The government said municipalities that achieve 80 per cent or more of their annual target will be able to access the funding.

Those that do not, will get nothing.