Ottawa in line for province's housing fund after nearing 2023 target
City reached 93% of housing target to get cash from Building Faster Fund
Builders broke ground on more than 10,000 homes in Ottawa last year, putting it on track to snag money through Ontario's $1.2-billion Building Faster Fund.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has now finalized data for 2023 housing starts — where construction began on new homes. That data shows which municipalities met the threshold for netting a cut of the $400 million up for grabs each year.
Ottawa ended the year with 10,313 homes, less than 1,000 homes shy of its provincially mandated goal.
The city was at just 64 per cent of its target in December, but an end-of-year jump pushed up starts nearly 30 percentage points.
City staff were so unconvinced of their ability to accomplish the feat that they began looking at other ways to secure funding to cover the cost of Ottawa's moves to speed up approvals, including hiring and training new planners and legal experts.
It's unclear how much money the city could now be in line to collect, with Brampton so far receiving $25.5 million for getting to 85 per cent of its target and Toronto getting $114 million for blowing past its provincial goal.
Ottawa has already secured $176-million over three years through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund.
The provincial fund is doled out at two levels, with municipalities reaching 80 per cent of their targets getting some money. Those who exceed their goals get more.
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