Mississauga loses out over $30M after not reaching Ontario housing target
The City of Mississauga has lost out on potentially millions in funding after failing to achieve its provincial housing targets.
In 2022, the Ontario government set housing targets for most major cities as part of its efforts to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.
Each city was also given an annual goal and told that if they achieved 80 per cent of the housing starts, they would be eligible for funding as part of the province’s three-year “Building Faster Fund.”
Cities that exceed their goals are also eligible for additional funding bonuses—but those who did not would receive nothing.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
In a letter sent Feb. 14, Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra wrote that Mississauga was no longer eligible for this funding as it did not achieve 80 per cent of its target.
“I encourage you to work towards eligibility for future program years,” he said.
Mississauga was tasked with building 8,800 homes in 2023, measured by comparing monthly housing starts provided by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation as well as long-term care bed data from the Ministry of Long-Term Care.
At the time the letter was sent, Mississauga had only reached 39 per cent of its goal, with 3,470 homes on their way to being built. Of those homes, 384 are long-term care beds.
As the province began to roll out their ‘Building Funding Faster’ cheques to municipalities, Acting Mayor Joe Horneck said he was “disappointed” with the province’s decision, especially considering the city’s changes to streamline housing.
“While we remain committed to meeting our shared housing target, we have been clear that cities must be measured on the factors they can influence. As a measurement, housing starts create winners and losers based on market forces out of the control of municipalities,” he wrote to Calandra in response to losing the funding. “Ontario cities are all at a different stage of growth and development, which makes using housing starts even more problematic.”
“Given the nature of construction in Mississauga, which is predominantly complex, in-fill, highrise buildings, it can take years for a project to move from sales and marketing through to construction start and completion.”
He noted the city has approved over 31,000 residential units in the last three years. More than 12,000 units are under construction and more than 33,000 residential units are undergoing site plan review.
The Building Faster Fund is critical to city infrastructure, Horneck said, and residents shouldn’t be penalized if the industry doesn’t start construction or if landowners choose not to submit development applications.
The City of Mississauga said they could have been eligible for $32 million through the Building Faster Fund. They noted that this was considered additional funding and not incorporated into their budget for spending.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday about Burlington’s housing starts—which are also rather low and would exclude them from funding—Calandra said their goal is to get shovels in the ground.
“We want to get people moving into homes and, as I’ve said, a permit doesn't mean they're moving into a home.”
Any money from the Building Faster Fund that is not given to municipalities will be made available for other infrastructure-related projects through an application process. The cities of Mississauga and Burlington can apply for that money.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.