Funding can be used to invest in housing- or community-enabling infrastructure
St. Catharines — Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, announced Ontario will be providing St. Catharines with $2,355,390 in funding through the Building Faster Fund as the city made substantial progress towards its 2023 housing target, breaking ground on a total of 648 new housing units last year.
“I applaud the work being done by St. Catharines and all the other municipalities that are making substantial progress toward their 2031 housing targets,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “My message to mayors across this province is that we must continue to work together and build on our progress on making homeownership a reality for everyone. We will give you the tools you need to succeed in our shared goal.”
Announced in August 2023, the Building Faster Fund is a three-year, $1.2 billion program that is designed to encourage municipalities to address the housing supply crisis. The fund rewards municipalities that make significant progress against their targets by providing funding for housing-enabling and community-enabling infrastructure. Funding is provided to municipalities that have reached at least 80 per cent of their provincially assigned housing target for the year with increased funding for municipalities that exceed their target.
“This is another example of the strong partnership being formed between the City of St. Catharines and the provincial government,” said Mat Siscoe, Mayor of the City of St. Catharines. “These funds are earmarked for tackling the infrastructure obstacles we’ve previously outlined, enabling the development community to sustain the momentum in constructing housing within St. Catharines. I applaud the Province of Ontario for recognizing and addressing the concerns raised by municipalities.”
Any unspent funding from the Building Faster Fund will be made available for housing-enabling infrastructure to all municipalities, including those that have already received funding as a result of reaching their targets, through an application process. In addition, ten per cent – or $120 million – of the Building Faster Fund is being set aside for small, rural and northern municipalities to help build housing-enabling infrastructure and prioritize projects that speed up the increase of housing supply.
“The City of St. Catharines is leading the way in Ontario by building more homes faster,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West. “I congratulate Mayor Siscoe, city council, and planning staff for increasing the number of housing starts last year and addressing the housing supply crisis in Niagara.”