For making “substantial progress” towards its housing build targets in 2023, the province of Ontario is providing the City of Kawartha Lakes with over $1.5 million in additional funding.
In Lindsay, Ont., on Thursday, Matthew Rae, parliamentary assistant to the minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, announced the funding of $1,566,177 through the Building Faster Fund after the municipality broke ground on 431 new housing units in 2023.
That’s approximately 90 per cent of 477 housing starts the municipality was tasked with for last year. The municipality will aim for 542 housing starts in 2024 followed by 650 in 2025.
The City of Kawartha Lakes has been tasked with building 6,500 homes in eight years, or approximately 813 annually.
The Building Faster Fund is a three-year, $1.2-billion program designed to encourage municipalities to make significant progress on their housing targets. Funding is provided to municipalities which have reached at least 80 per cent of its provincially-assigned target for the year.
The province aims to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031.
“I want to congratulate Kawartha Lakes and all municipalities that have worked hard to get shovels in the ground faster,” said Rae. “Our challenge to these municipalities now is to redouble their efforts to build more homes than ever so we can improve affordability and keep the dream of homeownership alive in Ontario. Our government will support you every step of the way, including through our recent budget investment of more than $1.8 billion in housing-enabling infrastructure.”
Kawartha Lakes Mayor Doug Elmslie says its Housing Pledge Tea — which includes staff and council — “united” to achieve the 90 per cent mark.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to meet this year’s goal and to approve housing solutions for needs across the entire housing spectrum,” he said. “Thanks to the $1.5 million in funding from our provincial partner and MPP Laurie Scott, we are now in a strong position to advance the necessary infrastructure to facilitate housing approvals.”
Scott, MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, says the government is proud of the municipality’s progress toward their housing targets and helping the province’s home building goal.
“I’d like to thank and congratulate the City of Kawartha Lakes for working hard to get shovels in the ground,” she said.
The province says in 2023, it 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 City of Peterborough reports permits were issued to build 435 housing units in 2023, exceeding the city’s provincial target for the year.
In March, the City of Peterborough received over $2 million from the province after breaking ground on 506 units in 2023 — exceeding the target of 345.