The Ontario government has announced a significant investment of $970 million to support the construction of more than 500,000 new homes across the province. This funding, part of the first round of the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, will be distributed across 54 projects in 60 municipalities to develop, repair, rehabilitate, and expand drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.
Responding to high demand, the government is also allocating an additional $250 million for a second round of applications starting on August 14, bringing the total fund to $1.2 billion.
“Our government’s historic investments in infrastructure are helping to tackle Ontario’s housing supply crisis and get more homes built across the province,” said Premier Doug Ford. “The investments we are announcing today alone will help get more than half-a-million homes built, including nearly 47,000 here in Peel Region. We’re going to keep working with our municipal partners to make the dream of homeownership a reality for more families across Ontario.”
In the first round of funding, the Regional Municipality of Peel will receive $35 million to expand the G.E. Booth Water Resource Recovery Facility. This project, which will enable the construction of 46,784 housing units in the region, includes extending water systems and installing new features such as an aeration tank and filtering systems. Additional project approvals will be announced in the coming weeks.
“By investing in drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities and connecting pipes to land, we are helping municipalities build more homes,” said Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure. “Homes can’t be built without connections to drinking water and wastewater.”
In this year’s budget, the province announced more than $1.8 billion in housing-enabling infrastructure funding through the $825 million Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and the $1 billion Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program. In response to significant demand for water and wastewater infrastructure investments, the province is reallocating $275 million from the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program to the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund. Additionally, $120 million from the Building Faster Fund, reserved for small, rural, and northern communities, will be directed to these communities through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund.
“When interest rates began to soar and put significant pressure on housing starts, our government focused on making historic investments in infrastructure so that our municipal partners would have the tools in place to unleash development as soon as the Bank of Canada began cutting rates, which Premier Ford has called for repeatedly,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “We have heard loud and clear that infrastructure is the number one obstacle for our partners and we will continue to do everything we can to help them build more homes faster.”
More information about the remaining funding in the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, including eligibility and application intake details, will be announced in the coming weeks.
