Windsor's mayor says the city is waiting to hear from the federal government on their application for accelerated housing funds.
London was announced as the first city in Canada to secure funding from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) on Wednesday, with the city receiving $74-million dollars.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Drew Dilkens says city council approved their plan in July and it was filed last month.
He says they're ready to go.
"Our application, at least in base funding, if it's all approved would see us receive $40-million dollars. And then there's the potential for layered on funding after that. So depending on the type of units you build, if you build the missing middle which is like duplexes and multiplexes, you get more money. If you build attainable housing and affordable housing, you get even more money, there's different layers of funding that flow based on the type of housing that is built," he said.
Dilkens says the municipality, provincial and federal government are all aligned to build more housing because they recognize there's a huge supply and demand mismatch driving up prices.
The province sets the rules for municipalities when it comes to rezoning and allowing multiple dwellings on a single piece of property.
He understands that things changing at the provincial level can be uncomfortable for some people, and he knows residents will look to council to try and stop certain things.
"You've seen it happen in the last few months where different developments have been proposed and it's lit a fire under the neighbours who are really upset about what they see," Dilkens continued. "You'll see developers put a toe in the water just to get a sense of what they can get done, and when they hear the feedback from the community they either back away or change their plan before they submit it to the city."
He says it's good to be sensitive to the neighbours and their concerns, but there's compression happening in the rezoning process which will allow more homes to be built faster.
In terms of builders, Dilkens says the HAF is key to incentivize developers and builders to build the kinds of things that municipalities need to meet the growing demand.
"The different types of units that are built, there's different layers of funding applied to it. And so if there's not enough money to build an attainable unit, guess what, if the developer builds that there could be an incentive of say $20,000 that could be provided to the developer for each unit that they build. That's why this particular program is interesting."
Dilkens says the City of Windsor doesn't build housing, but they certainly play a role, so working proactively with developers can make a difference.
The Housing Accelerator Fund was first announced during the 2021 election campaign, and introduced as part of the 2022 federal budget.
It allocates $4-billion in funding until 2026-27 to provide incentive to local governments encouraging initiatives aimed at increasing housing supply.
It also supports the development of complete, low-carbon and climate-resilient communities that are affordable, inclusive, equitable and diverse.
- with files from AM800's The Morning Drive