Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Mississauga is calling on the province to revisit how it measures cities on housing progress after it was deemed ineligible for a major housing funding program because of a lack of new home construction.
In a letter to the minister of municipal affairs and housing, Mississauga officials outlined their concerns after the city was deemed ineligible for the Building Faster Fund, which is designed to help the province reach its goal of building 1.5 million new homes.
The city said it was one of the first municipalities in Ontario to prepare a housing action plan and submit a housing pledge to the province, but that Mississauga has been at the forefront of advocating for a more flexible approach to housing construction in order to respond to market volatility and supply chain disruptions.
As a result, the city said it is not possible to accurately measure progress in the fight against the housing crisis while Mississauga is ineligible for the Building Faster Fund.
“We’re disappointed that Mississauga residents are losing out on much-needed funding that can help our city deliver the kind of intensification the province is looking for,” said Shari Lichterman, Mississauga city manager and chief administrative officer.
“The worst part is that we’re losing out on funding despite all of the work we’ve undertaken to grow our city and despite the fact that we have a pipeline of new residential units under construction, which includes more than 33,000 residential units under site plan review and 12,000 new units under construction.”
She said that while Mississauga has a pipeline of new residential units under construction, the construction activity is slowing down due to a wide variety of factors outside of the city’s control, including interest rates, labour shortages, cost of materials and market demand.
“We have limited control over market forces and the business and financial decisions of the development and building industry — who determine when to start construction,” Lichterman said. “Development and construction activity is slowing due to a wide variety of factors outside of the city’s control such as interest rates, labour shortages, cost of materials, market/investor demand, etc.”
The city estimates that it has 33,000 residential units under site plan review and 12,000 new units under construction.
Mississauga officials said they are committed to working with the province to develop an appropriate way to measure progress in the housing crisis.
“We are committed to helping the province meet its goal of building 1.5 million new homes. We will continue to address these important issues with the industry experts on our Housing Panel to find innovative solutions that will help us continue to deliver on our housing commitments,” acting Mississauga Mayor Joe Horneck said in the statement.