TORONTO – In recent weeks, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, has been engaged in a “tour” that has seen him distribute millionaire checks to the various cities that have achieved the housing objectives set at the provincial level. The latest one to acquire funding was the City of Milton, which received more than $8 million for exceeding expectations by building 1,952 new buildings. 

According to provincial data, Ontario has almost reached its 2023 target of building 110,000 new houses. This includes 89,297 new buildings, 9,879 residential units and 9,835 long-term care beds (placed, not without controversy, as “houses”). But how are the various municipalities of the Greater Toronto Area doing?

Toronto has already received $114 million in funding to build 31,656 new housing units last year. Brampton received $25 million to be “on track” toward meeting its goals, with more than 7,000 new constructions. Mississauga, however, is not eligible for the funding and will lose about $30 million because the city has only reached 39% of its targets. Barrie beat expectations with 1,714 new constructions and Kitchener did the same with 3,579 new constructions. Newmarket remains at 33% of its target for 2023. Richmond Hill achieved 39% while Vaughan did better, coming in at 60% of its target for 2023. Oshawa achieved 67% of its target for 2023 while Hamilton exceeded its goal with 4,142 new constructions.

The complete detail can be found on the government website (to be precise, here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/tracking-housing-supply-progress).

Meanwhile, Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra will be in St. Catharines tomorrow morning with Mayor Mat Siscoe to provide an update on the town’s housing goals.

On the homes-front, a tail of controversy was recorded, as we were saying, following Doug Ford’s statements on beds in long-term care institutions (i.e. retirement homes). His government, in fact, also counts newly created beds as “homes” (to make the Ontario Conservatives’ promise to build 1.5 million homes in the province within ten years more feasible) and speaking to journalists on Friday he challenged those critical of the use of long-term care beds in housing counts. “When a senior living in an apartment building moves into long-term care, that’s called home” Ford told reporters. “They have their own room. They eat in a dining room with everyone else. I challenge anyone to come in and talk to these old people and say… ‘hey, you live in a bed’…”. Brilliant.

Photo by Jeriden Villegas on Unsplash