Toronto, ON – WoodGreen Community Services welcomes the Government of Canada’s additional commitments in the Fall Economic Statement to extend the Affordable Housing Fund to 2028-2029 with an investment of $362.7 million over five years, including $50 million over two years starting in 2025 for pre-development work including site planning, municipal regulatory approvals, and construction design.
As a leading non-profit housing provider and developer, WoodGreen is pleased to see additional investments into the Affordable Housing Fund, which is one of the pathways for non-profits to develop affordable housing. In particular, WoodGreen looks forward to further details on the pre-development fund and the application process.
The Predevelopment fund is important as many non-profit housing developers require upfront investment to formulate feasible development business cases and fund approval and design stages and to move projects to the next phases of construction and long-term financing faster.
WoodGreen applauds the additional investment; however, to speed up and scale new affordable housing supply, we still need further actions to take place:
- Accelerate the roll out of the Rental Protection Fund, an acquisition-based fund committed to in Budget 2023-2024. The federal government must move forward on the $1.5 billion commitment into fiscal year 2025-2026.
- Extend the Affordable Housing Fund to 2035. While an extension to 2028-2029 is appreciated, development projects operate on multi-year timelines and to ensure a healthy pipeline of projects, the federal government must give certainty of funding and financing for non-profit developers beyond 2028. WoodGreen has an ambitious goal to own and/or manage 5,000 units by 2030 and beyond.
- Provide a standardized pathway for non-profits and private developers to develop together through joint venture partnerships. There is currently no official stream or pathway for partnership projects that leverage the combined benefits of both sectors through combining Federal non-profit and private developers' programs.
WoodGreen looks forward to continuing to work with all levels of government to introduce further solutions that can accelerate the supply of affordable rental housing.
ABOUT WOODGREEN COMMUNITY SERVICES (woodgreen.org): WoodGreen is one of the largest social service agencies in Toronto, serving 40,000 people each year. We offer over 75 programs and services tackling the social determinants that affect the health and well-being of individuals in our community.
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For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Jon Reed, Sr. Manager, Marketing & Communications; [email protected]; 437 226 8091