NAIOP’s Canadian chapters are welcoming Ottawa’s new $6-billion infrastructure investment program designed to help curb the country’s chronic housing shortage.

The program was announced recently by the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund will be available to municipalities, provinces and territories to construct and upgrade critical infrastructure to support the construction of more homes, including water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste management systems.

In a statement, NAIOP said the funding will unlock much needed housing development, but much work remains to be done.

“This is a significant investment to help struggling municipalities build and renew essential infrastructure, and we hope that this can be done while respecting both provincial and municipal responsibilities so that the funding can be put to work quickly,” said Alexander Thomson, NAIOP North America’s chair-elect. “We are also pleased to see the federal government acknowledge that development charges must be frozen to help get essential housing built.”

NAIOP contends that municipal funding models to support rapid infrastructure expansion have not evolved to meet the demand created by population growth.

“We look forward to working with provincial and municipal governments across Canada to ensure this funding flows quickly to enable NAIOP members to get more housing built faster as part of mixed-use development,” added Thomson.

Ottawa will provide $1 billion to municipalities to support urgent infrastructure needs that will directly create more housing, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a news release.

Provinces and territories will be able to access $5 billion if they commit to key actions that increase housing supply.

Provinces and territories will be able to access $5 billion if they commit to several key actions that boost housing stock The key actions include requiring municipalities to adopt four units as-of-right and allow more so-called missing middle homes.

The investments are part of the federal government’s 2024 budget, to be introduced in the House of Commons on April 16.

Photo: CNW Group/Canada Infrastructure Bank