April 2, 2024
More Homes Canada, a coalition of pro-housing groups from across the country, is pleased to see the announcement of a $6B federal infrastructure fund designed to support housing construction and cut back on harmful red tape.
The Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund will finance critical infrastructure upgrades that communities need in order to accommodate more homes. Crucially, it earmarks $5 billion for provinces and territories that commit to reforming planning rules that stifle housing construction.
“The onus is now on provincial and municipal governments to legalize housing forms we desperately need and unlock federal infrastructure dollars in the process,” said Yash Bhandari of More Homes Canada. In most Canadian cities, zoning rules currently prohibit multiplexes and apartments on the vast majority of residential land.
The announcement should serve as a wake up call for provinces like Ontario, whose government recently announced that they would not legalize fourplexes provincewide.
“We need every region to commit to reforms or else the crisis will only spread and worsen in new areas,” said Colleen Bailey of More Neighbours Toronto. “This should be a signal for Premiers leaning toward NIMBY [Not In My Backyard] policies to re-evaluate and commit to building strong municipalities with a variety of housing types that welcome new residents.”
The fund will make the most of the upcoming Housing Design Catalogue by rewarding municipalities who allow designs to be constructed as-of-right, bypassing a rezoning process that can often take years.
“Canada has some of the longest approval times in the world. Standardized designs improve construction speed and costs, but making municipal approvals as-of-right is vital to addressing the housing shortage quickly,” said Russil Wvong of Abundant Housing Vancouver.
The announcement also ties transit funding to high-density housing and the removal of parking minimums near high-frequency transit.
“This is the action that we’ve been waiting for from the federal government,” said Willem Klumpenhouwer of More Neighbours Calgary. “We need to make the most of our public investments to allow young people, new families and seniors to find suitable housing where they need it. With this federal funding, it is now time for provincial and municipal governments to step up.”
For more information, please contact:
More Homes Canada
info@morehomescanada.ca
https://www.morehomescanada.ca/