Canada's housing minister defends $10M cut to Toronto housing fund
CBC
A federal minister defended on Tuesday his decision to cut the amount of money that Ottawa will give Toronto under a national housing fund, saying council failed to fulfill a pledge to increase city density.
On Friday, Housing Minister Gregor Robertson announced that the federal government will give Toronto $10 million less than expected under the Housing Accelerator Fund, a program that encourages local initiatives to build more homes faster.
Robertson said the cut comes after Toronto city council failed to allow sixplexes citywide without needing special approval. Toronto will still receive $461 million from the fund over four years.
Speaking to reporters in Toronto, Robertson said the goal of the fund is to ensure more affordable housing is built in Canada and the federal government is encouraging that building by having signed agreements with 241 Canadian communities that include commitments.
"We want to be sure that everyone's following through on their commitments," Robertson said.
"And the challenge is deciding the scale by which any community might deviate from what they committed to. Every agreement that the Government of Canada signs, we have to be looking at the integrity of the agreement, making sure people are delivering that."
Robertson said the City of Toronto and federal government continue to have a strong partnership when it comes to housing.
In a letter to Mayor Olivia Chow last Friday, Robertson said the city has "fallen short" on its commitment to allow sixplexes as of right citywide, by opting "to limit these permissions to only nine wards, falling short of our joint ambition, and keeping in place unwarranted restrictions on missing middle housing in much of the city."
In June, after a contentious debate, council voted to allow sixplexes in nine wards, permitting others to opt in.
The city is continuing to do its part to build housing, Chow said at the Tuesday news conference.
"You can build sixplexes all across the city of Toronto, on avenues, on major streets, and in six wards inside residential areas. There's ample opportunities for people to build laneway houses, multiplexes, sixplexes, any number of plexes," Chow said.
She said the city has decided it will not charge development fees on builders who want to build sixplexes.
"We will do what we can to remove as many barriers, financial, zonings, as we can," Chow said.
In a statement Friday, the mayor said the city will break ground on 28,000 rental units next year, with nearly 10,000 of them affordable and rent-controlled homes that she has secured through financial incentives.
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