Ottawa announces housing infrastructure fund

Photo: Christopher Katsarov The Canadian Press Candidates will have to demonstrate how their proposals will support the construction of more housing.

Alessia Passafiume – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published at 18:56

• Canada

Applications opened Thursday for a $1-billion federal program to help municipalities and Indigenous communities build critical infrastructure.

The government has set aside $1 billion through the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund in direct funding to communities to build or improve infrastructure to support drinking water, wastewater, stormwater and solid waste.

Applications are available online for municipalities and Indigenous communities. Applicants will be asked to demonstrate how their proposals will support more housing.

Housing Minister Sean Fraser said he expects to distribute all of the funding directly to communities by the end of the year.

“For clarity, this is another program that [Conservative Leader Pierre] Poilievre has committed to completely eliminating from the handful of programs that we have on the table to make housing construction easier and more cost-effective,” explained Minister Fraser.

Mr. Poilievre indicated that he would roll back the Liberals’ housing policies and instead eliminate the federal sales tax on new homes sold for less than $1 million. He called on provinces to do the same with provincial sales taxes.

Mr. Fraser also announced Thursday that the Regional Homebuilding Innovation Fund is accepting applications, which will provide $50 million over two years to support housing construction in southern Ontario.

See also

• Sean Fraser plans 2024 plan to tackle housing crisis
• Conservative MPs believed in housing fund, decried by their leader
• Pierre Poilievre would eliminate GST on new homes under $1 million