City won’t get cash for housing
Falls had sought $45.2 million in federal funding
Niagara Falls has failed to secure $45.2 million in federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) money to construct 1,668 units in three years and 9,660 in a decade.
But city officials are hopeful the municipality will be a successful applicant in the next round of funding.
Coun. Victor Pietrangelo said he’s disappointed Niagara Falls was not chosen, adding he’s “hoping that there’s something that we can do so that we get in the mix” for the next round of funding.
“Housing is needed everywhere, it’s not just Niagara Falls, it’s all across Canada,” he said during last week’s city council meeting.
“That tells you that municipalities are ready to invest in housing. We just need upper-level government support.”
In March 2023, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. introduced the HAF, which is a $4-billion incentive program targeting municipalities, with an anticipated outcome of 100,000 additional housing building permits issued across the country by fall 2026.
The aim of the program is to accelerate housing supply and enhance certainty in the development approval and building permit process. The program is meant to remove barriers and support development of affordable, inclusive, equitable, climate-resilient and complete communities.
Signe Hansen, the city’s senior manager of long-range planning initiatives, said Niagara Falls’ application addressed all of the government’s list of best practices to improve housing supply and affordability, and was well-positioned for success.
However, the city was informed
by CMHC in February that it was not successful in its application.
Communication from CMHC, provided to city councillors, said more than 500 applications were received in the first round.
A total of $3.7 billion was awarded to more than 70 communities, including $21.5 million to St. Catharines.
Without funding, Niagara Falls staff will continue to implement recommendations of the city’s housing strategy, albeit at a slower pace.
Mayor Jim Diodati asked staff why there is “picking and choosing” of municipalities, rather than if you meet requirements you receive funding.
Hansen said it was “made clear” early on to city staff there would be more applicants than available funding.
“I can’t explain why some municipalities got the funding and we did not. We had a very strong application. I think it came down to the response of over 500 applications and the funding that was available,” said Hansen.
“The prime minister announced that he’s adding another $400 million to the Housing Accelerator Fund budget, so we have reached out to our CMHC representative to discuss how we can move our application forward.”
Diodati asked whether municipalities hire lobbyists to help them receive funding, adding while some communities have MPs in government, others, such as Niagara Falls, do not.
“I do know that municipalities retain consultants to help them prepare the application and I’m sure there’s quite a bit of interaction between those consultants and members of the government,” said Hansen.
She said the city retained Dillon Consulting, which prepared the municipality’s housing strategy, to help staff with statistics.
To access funding, municipalities needed to submit applications to CMHC prior to Aug. 18, 2023.
On Aug. 15, 2023, council approved an in-camera report authorizing the submission of a HAF application for $45.2 million. The application was submitted the next day and focused on implementation of the city’s housing strategy.
That included incentivizing development of a mix of housing types, creating a five-person team to expedite development application and building permit approvals by 50 per cent of legislated timelines, creating opportunities for housing and affordable housing through assessment of surplus municipal land, accelerating preparation of secondary plans to unlock growth potential more quickly, creating an accessory dwelling unit program to encourage and expedite alternative forms of housing, developing alternatives to address workforce housing for hospitality and tourism employees, and implementing inclusionary zoning in the major transit station area.
HAF funding would have also been allocated to investment in housing and affordable housing, housing infrastructure, and community-related infrastructure that supports housing and converting city properties to affordable housing.