Solving the housing affordability crisis is our guiding star. A big contributing factor to the erosion of affordability is a serious lack of supply. We want to be part of the solution, so our goal is to build 1,000 affordable housing units in Canada each year by 2025.
That’s why we were so excited to hear about all the measures the federal government is taking to tackle the affordable housing crisis in Canada with its latest budget.
We were pleased to hear that the government understands that a lack of supply is one of the core reasons housing has become so expensive.
Currently, about 200,000 new housing units are constructed in Canada each year, and to keep up with demand, the feds say Canada will need to build almost double that amount each year over the next decade.
In total, the government is allocating about $10 billion dollars to supply side measures that will help community-minded organizations, investors and builders to reach these housing construction goals.
If you’re interested in accessing federal funding for affordable housing, drop us a line! We’d love to discuss how our process can help you stop spinning wheels and get your project off the ground,
Supply side measures
- New CMHC Housing Accelerator Fund: This new fund will target the creation of 100,000 net new housing units over the next five years, providing $4 billion in funding starting in 2022-23. The budget report says it could include incentives for municipalities or funding that will help municipalities speed up housing development.
- More funding for the CMHC Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI): This is the third round of funding for the RHI, which ensures housing is available within 12 months of agreements being signed (a perfect fit for modular solutions). The government is committing $1.5 billion in funding over two years, starting in 2022-23.
- More funding for the National Housing Co-Investment Fund: The National Co-Investment Fund has been criticized in the past for its stringent requirements, making it difficult for interested parties to access funding. But along with new $2.9 billion in funding, the government says it’s taking lessons from the Rapid Housing Initiative, making the fund more flexible and easier to access, with more generous contributions and faster approvals.
- Reforming the Rental Construction Financing Initiative: The reformation is intended to strengthen the affordability and energy efficiency requirements of this program, with the government saying developers who significantly exceed the requirements and build highly affordable and energy-efficient units will be eligible to have a portion of their repayable loans converted to non-repayable loans.
- New Co-operative Housing Development Program: The government is reallocating money from both the National Housing Co-Investment Fund and the Rental Construction Financing Initiative to launch this new program aimed at expanding co-op housing in Canada. In total, this program will be getting about $1.5 billion.
- More funding for Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy: This program provides funding to communities to help them address their homelessness needs, and will be getting an additional $562.2 million over two years, beginning in 2024-25.
. . . you can scout for more evidence of our expertise in community-minded housing development through our archive of multi-family and mixed-use residential construction projects.
