The Ontario and Canadian governments have allocated $1 billion to support municipalities that do not impose development charges in enhancing and revitalizing essential infrastructure. Todd McCarthy, Ontario’s acting minister of infrastructure, Rob Flack, Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, and Jennifer McKelvie, parliamentary secretary to the federal minister of housing and infrastructure, disclosed this initiative at the recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa.
Under the new Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP), each government level will contribute $500 million. The specific focus of the “non-development charge municipalities stream” is to assist these communities in funding crucial infrastructure projects such as bridges, roads, and water systems, facilitating new housing construction and safeguarding existing housing stock.
This funding supplement complements the $8.8 billion previously committed by the provincial and federal governments in March, as highlighted by McCarthy in an interview with CBC. In a related development, it was announced in June that cities would need to cover 10% of the expenses for new infrastructure to access the $8.8 billion funding pool. However, Flack stated that this requirement would not apply to municipalities eligible for support under the newly introduced stream.