Province approves City of Ottawa's plan for $37.5M in housing funds

Construction workers build new row homes in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The City of Ottawa will be getting a $37.5 million boost in funding from the provincial government for housing projects.

In a memo to city councillors and the mayor Thursday, Interim General Manager of Strategic Initiatives Ryan Perrault said the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing confirmed that Ottawa met 80 per cent of its 2023 housing targets, allowing the city to apply for extra cash from the Building Faster Fund.

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The initial announcement that Ottawa had broken ground on 10,313 new housing units in 2023 was made in April, but the City had to submit an investment plan to the province for approval, detailing how it would spend the money. The plan was approved on Aug. 13, meaning the cash will soon be in city coffers.

Perrault wrote that the Province will release 70 per cent of the funds ($26 million) to the City within 30 business days of approving the investment plan. The remainder of the funds will be released after the City submits the required year-end report, due by Feb. 4, 2025.

The biggest share of the funds will go toward two affordable housing projects. The City will put $16 million toward building 158 affordable housing units at 1770 Heatherington Rd. and $9.5 million toward 38 affordable units for seniors at 2270 Braeside Ave.

The remaining funds will be divvied up between other projects. The city plans to put $2 million toward road widening and infrastructure renewal on Bank Street; $2 million toward infrastructure renewal on Greenfield Avenue, Main Street, and Hawthorne Avenue; and $2.5 million toward increasing transportation capacity on the Blackburn Hamlet Bypass, such as road design work for transit and HOV lanes.

Three million dollars will be put toward the Ontario-Ottawa Agreement on Modular Housing, which requires the city to dispose of two surplus properties that can be used to support modular homes. Funding will support pre-development, servicing, and capital project costs, the memo says.

The City will also put $2.5 million toward road construction to create better access to a property on Lanthier Drive, which the City failed to sell due to the cost of the required road extension needed to service the site. Once sold, the site should be able to accommodate up to 300 new homes, including affordable units, the memo says. Funding will support cost sharing of the road and, in turn, the sale of the land.

The money must be spent by March 31, 2026.

"All projects included on the investment plan have received Council approval except for the two modular attainable home ownership sites," Perrault wrote. "A report recommending surplus lands for disposal will be brought to committee and Council later this year. Although staff do not foresee any issues meeting the payment deadline, the program is flexible, and funds can be reallocated as needed."