Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed the federal government is set to spend $5 million to build 328 energy efficient affordable rental homes across southern Ontario with 95 of them residing in Hamilton.
During one of two stops in Hamilton on Tuesday, the PM said the passive homes will be built through the $200 million fund Affordable Housing Innovation Fund created in 2016 which has 30,000 affordable housing units earmarked for Canadians.
Each of the energy efficient designs will reduce pollution and lower operating costs for building operators.
Trudeau acknowledged the recent spike in home prices in southern Ontario amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of rising costs pricing many young people out of the country’s housing market.
“This is something we recognized back in 2015, and we decided in a very deliberate decision that it was time for the federal government to get back into the business of housing in this country,” Trudeau said during a presser at Indwell’s Royal Oak Dairy project not far from Barton Street East and Victoria Avenue North.
“Previous government had taken Canada out of the business of housing, left it in the hands of municipalities and the provinces.”
The PM also promised more good news for the city with respect to the Ottawa’s Rapid Housing Initiative which is giving Hamilton a $10.8 million share of $500 million in supportive housing.
That project is expected to create 45 new affordable units in about 12 months.
He went on to say that creating “opportunity and prosperity” for residents to live closer to where they work and having accessible transit is part of the vision of pairing up with the province on the city’s forthcoming $3.4 Billion LRT project.
“We were very happy to partner with the city of Hamilton and get the province back on board for significant transit initiatives,” Trudeau said.
“But we’re also going to keep working on housing because we know that making sure that people can live close to transit to get to and from work in affordable ways is also part of building a stronger Hamilton.”
The federal government’s latest housing spend will also build passive units in London, Mississauga, Simcoe, and Kitchener.
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