Ontario pledges additional $1.6B to municipalities for housing as homebuilding falls behind targets

August 18, 2025

RED FM News Desk

The Ontario government has announced an additional $1.6 billion in funding to help municipalities build more housing. Premier Doug Ford made the announcement Monday during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa.

Ford said the province had already invested $2.3 billion into the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, which supports infrastructure that enables housing — such as roads, bridges, water lines, and water treatment systems.

Municipalities can apply for this funding through four different streams, which cover projects like building roads, bridges, and wastewater systems.

Despite these efforts, Ontario is falling significantly behind its housing construction goals. Ford’s government has set a target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031, but as of now in 2024, only 94,753 housing starts have been recorded — well short of the 125,000-home goal for the year.

The government updated its housing tracker this week for the first time in eight months. Even after including long-term care homes and university dormitories in the count, the total still fell short of expectations.

According to data released Monday by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the national pace of housing starts rose by 4% in July 2024 compared to the previous year — but in Ontario, housing starts actually dropped by 28%.