The Ontario and Canadian governments have allocated $1 billion to support municipalities that do not impose development charges in constructing and upgrading essential infrastructure. Todd McCarthy, Ontario’s interim infrastructure minister, Rob Flack, Ontario’s municipal affairs and housing minister, and Jennifer McKelvie, parliamentary secretary to the federal minister of housing and infrastructure, revealed the initiative during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa. Each government level will contribute $500 million to establish a new segment of the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP).
The new “non-development charge municipalities stream” aims to assist these communities in funding infrastructure projects such as bridges, roads, and water systems to facilitate new housing developments and safeguard the current housing stock. This financial support complements the $8.8 billion previously committed by the provincial and federal governments, as highlighted by McCarthy in an interview with CBC.
In a related development from June, municipalities were informed that they must cover 10% of the expenses for new infrastructure projects to access the $8.8 billion funding. However, Flack mentioned that this requirement would not apply to municipalities falling under the newly introduced stream.
