Minister Statement on the Housing Accelerator Fund Progress

Ottawa, ON, October 23, 2023

Canada is in a housing crisis, and all levels of government must work together to incentivize the construction of new homes so that we can make housing more affordable, and more attainable for all Canadians.

As part of our efforts, we are working with municipal governments to make it easier to build homes in communities across Canada.

Cities have an important role to play in addressing the housing crisis. In different parts of Canada, permitting processes take too long and restrictive zoning practices in many cases make it illegal to build the kinds of homes we need to ensure everyone in Canada can afford a place to live near the services and opportunities their households needs.

These practices make it harder for students to find a place to rent they can afford, they prevent young people who are working from having access to the housing market, they remove options for seniors looking to downsize into more manageable homes, they exacerbate the challenge of homelessness, and they drive up the cost of housing for families more broadly. If cities take meaningful action to address these barriers, more Canadians will have a home they can afford.

The Housing Accelerator Fund was created to incentivize local governments to implement structural and lasting reforms that will increase the supply of housing. Mayors and Councils from across Canada are demonstrating leadership by acting to legalize housing and build more homes, faster. Through Housing Accelerator Fund negotiations, cities like London, Calgary, Hamilton, Halifax, Kitchener, and Vaughan have recently made progress to end exclusionary zoning. Others are proactively changing their zoning rules and permitting process in anticipation of a decision on their Housing Accelerator application.

The creative ideas cities are implementing to access federal funding can serve as examples for others to follow. We are providing a list of the best practices that have emerged to date from the successful applicants and encourage applicants to adopt some or all of these measures in order to get more homes built in their community.

As we continue to assess applications, we will be prioritizing consideration of the communities based on their relative level of ambition and policy choices and we will work to finalize agreements with the cities, towns, and rural communities who are willing to do the most to provide homes for their residents.

There are no automatic approvals under the Housing Accelerator Fund. It is not designed to reward communities for tinkering at the margins. Instead, this significant funding opportunity is a call to action and will provide significant financial support to those communities who are willing to implement transformational changes that create a pathway to solving the housing crisis in their community.

We invite all municipalities to explore the best practices that other local governments are implementing and integrate them into their local plans to bolster housing supply and affordability. With federal funding, and federal leadership we can help change the way cities build homes. Right now, we are looking for the most ambitious partners in the country.

Find out what some of the Housing Accelerator Fund’s successful applicants are doing by visiting https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/project-funding-and-mortgage-financing/funding-programs/all-funding-programs/housing-accelerator-fund/top-10-housing-accelerator-fund-initiatives-municipal-roadmap.