Ontario Rewards Belleville with $1.24 Million for Exceeding 2023 Housing Target

Pete Fisher
9 months ago
• Categories: Local

Funding can be used to invest in housing- or community-enabling infrastructure

On March 1, 2024, Premier Doug Ford announced that Ontario will be providing Belleville with $1,240,000 in funding through the Building Faster Fund as the municipality has exceeded its 2023 housing target, breaking ground on a total of 644 new housing units last year.

“Belleville is getting it done on housing and we are proud to reward them for their success,” said Premier Doug Ford. “Today’s $1.24 million announcement provides flexible funding that I encourage Belleville to put towards local priorities such as the proposal to build a hub for mental health and addictions services. My challenge to Mayor Ellis and to every mayor in Ontario is to get even more homes built in the coming years so we can make life more affordable and keep the dream of homeownership alive for families across the province. We’ll be there to support you every step of the way.”

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.

“Council, staff and residents along with the Quinte Homebuilders Association are committed to not only reaching but exceeding our annual housing targets,” said Neil Ellis, Mayor of the City of Belleville. “We are able to reinvest the money received from the Building Faster Fund into the $55 million Avonlough Pump Station and delivery system, allowing us to open up lands in the city’s west end which will accommodate more than 20,000 additional residents. We look forward to continuing to contribute to the province’s goal for new homes in the coming years.”

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.

Quick Facts

In 2023, Ontario reached 99 per cent of its target of 110,000 new homes, which includes housing starts, additional residential units and new and upgraded long-term care beds.
Ontario broke ground on 18,992 rental starts in 2023, the highest number of rental starts on record.
The province saw nearly 10,000 additional residential units created in 2023 – which includes changing single family homes into multi-unit residences or converting commercial office space into residential use – and nearly 10,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds.
Ontario has introduced significant investments in municipalities to support housing-enabling infrastructure, including $200 million over three years for the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and the $400 million annual Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund.

Quotes

“We know that Belleville and the Bay of Quinte continue to be a destination for families who are looking for a better place to raise their kids. And as our community grows, our government is going to continue to be there to help Mayor Ellis and council with funding that gives them the flexibility to respond to our city’s needs and get even more homes built.”

– Todd Smith
MPP for Bay of Quinte

“I applaud the work being done by Belleville and all the other municipalities that have met or exceeded their housing targets. Our government is committed to building at least 1.5 million homes by 2031 and I look forward to unveiling the next steps in our plan to build more homes with the release of our fifth housing supply action plan later this month.”

– Paul Calandra
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing