Ontario Rewards Town of Innisfil with over $2.5 million for Exceeding 2023 Housing Target
Funding can be used to invest in housing- and community-enabling infrastructure
TOWN OF INNISFIL — Today, Matthew Rae, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, announced Ontario will be providing the Town of Innisfil with $2,520,000 in funding through the Building Faster Fund as the municipality exceeded its 2023 housing target, breaking ground on a total of 738 new housing units last year.
“I want to congratulate the Town of Innisfil and all municipalities that have worked hard to get shovels in the ground faster,” said Matthew Rae, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “Our challenge to these municipalities now is to redouble their efforts to build more homes than ever before so we can improve affordability and keep the dream of homeownership alive in Ontario. Our government will be there to support you every step of the way, including through our recent budget investment of more than $1.8 billion in housing-enabling infrastructure.”
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.
“The Town of Innisfil is a very desirable place for people to live and we are experiencing unprecedented growth as demonstrated by exceeding our housing target by 160 per cent in 2023,” said Lynn Dollin, Mayor of the Town of Innisfil. “The province has recognized our success in building more homes, which is part of our housing pledge for 6,300 additional homes in 10 years. We are also mindful that growth needs to be managed carefully, sustainably and in alignment with the town’s strategic plan and vision. We are grateful for the province’s funding which will continue to help us get building faster, together.”
The Building Faster Fund includes $120 million 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
- Ontario is investing historic amounts in housing- and community-enabling infrastructure to get more homes built across the province including the Building Faster Fund and the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund. The province recently announced a new $1 billion Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, as well as quadrupled the provincial Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to $825 million.
- 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.