Ford expands strong mayor powers to the Sault, pledges cash for cities that meet housing targets

EDITOR’S NOTE: A version of this article originally appeared on The Trillium, a new Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.

Municipalities that meet at least 80 per cent of their yearly provincial housing targets will get a slice of the new $1.2-billion Building Faster Fund — with bonuses if they exceed 100 per cent, Premier Doug Ford announced on Monday. 

"After decades of stagnation, we're starting to see results against challenging headwinds like higher inflation rates and labour shortages," Ford said at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, pointing to higher-than-usual housing starts in 2021 and 2022. "This is positive momentum and a step in the right direction. But as our province grows at an incredible speed, we need to do more."

He said the funding will last for three years and start flowing in 2024.

Municipalities will get a slice of the $400-million-a-year fund based on how much of the provincial housing target they represent. For example, a city on the hook for 10 per cent of the target (150,000) will get $40 million if it hits that amount. They can earn more if they exceed the target.

Only four cities (Toronto, Ottawa Mississauga and Brampton) have targets above 100,000. All the rest are under 50,000 with 24 under 10,000.

Brantford, for example, is on track to smash provincial targets by building 176 per cent of its share. It would get $4 million, Ford said. Pickering is on track to build 150 per cent of its target and would get about $5 million. 

The province lays out the math here.

Ten per cent of the fund ($120 million) will be set aside to support housing in small municipalities that don't have provincial targets, Ford said.

Ford also announced that 21 new municipalities — those with populations expected to hit 50,000 by 2031 — will get targets, and strong-mayor powers along with them. All 50 municipalities with targets are listed at the bottom of this piece.

Those 21 municipalities will also be eligible for the Building Faster Fund, as long as the mayor sends a written letter to the government confirming their intent to meet their housing target. A housing pledge endorsed by council will no longer be necessary, the premier said.

Ford said his government is aiming for 110,000 new housing starts in 2023. Ontario hit 99,000 starts in 2021, the highest number in more than 30 years. That dipped to 96,000 in 2022.

The province will need to average 150,000 starts per year in the decade starting from 2021 to hit the government's 1.5-million-home target. 

Yearly targets will "ramp up" over time, Ford said Monday.

The fund is likely partially aimed at sating municipalities frustrated by the Ford government's axing of development charges, paid by builders to local governments, for affordable housing projects. 

NDP Leader Marit Stiles earned a round of applause from AMO delegates when said the three-year fund "does not come close" to the amount municipalities are losing in development funds permanently.

She brought up an exchange in the legislature between Ford and NDP MPP Jeff Burch, who outlined cuts to municipal funding.

"I’ve heard this whole song and dance before. Have I ever seen a municipality, have I ever seen a politician — outside of ours — that doesn’t love spending money? You guys love spending money. The municipalities love spending money," Ford said in May. "We don’t have an income problem at the city halls across the province; we have a spending problem. That’s the issue."

Expanding strong mayor powers is "heavy-handed" and "out of touch," Stiles said. 

"It was, to me, kind of astonishing that he would think that that would be a popular announcement among this crowd," she said.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said the new fund sounds good, "but when you dig into it, it's harder for you to achieve the things you need to achieve, because there's all these rules around it."

"So why can't we just actually focus on the thing that we need to do? If we build houses, if we make housing affordable and attainable for people, then all those things that we need to do, like education, healthy people, strong economy, it will all happen."

In a release, Green Leader Mike Schreiner called Ford's announcement "tough talk and Band-Aids," and called for measures that would densify cities without paving over green space.

Minutes before Ford spoke, Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare got a big round of applause when he reiterated his call for Housing Minister Steve Clark to resign over his handling of the Greenbelt, and for the government to reinstate the land it removed from the protected area.

Hare said he'd continue to meet with the government, but that he stands with the Williams Treaty chiefs whose lands are in the Greenbelt, "and who are ready and willing to defend their lands from development that takes place without their consent and fully informed consultation."