Toronto mayor says housing measures in fall economic statement are 'promising,' but money is needed now

Toronto's mayor says while she welcomes new housing measures in the federal government's fall economic statement, the plan is "not ambitious enough" because the money for those projects is needed now.

"The fall economic statement mentioned housing a great deal. It was promising but the funds need to come a lot faster," Olivia Chow told reporters at city hall.

"People are waiting. We cannot wait too much longer."

In the statement delivered on Tuesday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced a handful of new housing measures, saying the federal government "really understands that housing is an urgent concern of Canadians, and housing is so connected to affordability for Canadians." 

Chow said she is pleased that the government has a "blueprint" for housing targets similar to that of Toronto and is budgeting $1 billion in upcoming years to push the construction of 7,000 affordable non-profit, co-op and public housing homes.

But she says more needs to be done to help Torononians now, particularly those in need of places to stay.

"Tonight, there will be probably 350 people in tents because they can't find shelter. It's raining out. There will be people that would have no place to go. We are in the middle of a housing crisis," said Chow, who said she was disappointed the statement did not include new money for refugees or an infrastructure fund.

Freeland said the government is taking steps to increase the supply of homes in Canada, make it easier to pay mortgages and rents, and to expand its recently announced measure to remove GST charges from rental developments to include co-op rental housing.

She said it will also introduce legislation to establish a Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, currently Infrastructure Canada. Through this legislation, the government will clarify the department's powers, duties and functions to make it in charge of improving housing outcomes and enhancing public infrastructure.

"The federal plan in the economic statement offers land, consolidates different departments, puts the funds together, and maps out where they want to go. Unfortunately, it is not ambitious enough," Chow said.

"There's a plan there, it's promising, but people need more faster."

Province says federal government must do more

The mayor said she is still hopeful that Toronto will get $500 million from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, which encourages municipalities to make structural changes that will increase housing supply. The goal of the fund is to create 100,000 new homes across Canada.

The government has signed agreements with five Ontario cities: London, Vaughan, Hamilton, Brampton and Kitchener, but not Toronto yet.

In a statement on Tuesday, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said the province also supports the new housing measures announced in Ottawa, but like Chow, is disappointed the government did not provide new money for infrastructure and asylum seekers.

"Ontario stands ready to work with our federal partners on shared priorities such as building homes and critical infrastructure while making life easier and more affordable for Ontario families," Bethlenfalvy said.

"While several of the measures contained in today's federal fall economic statement help support these shared priorities, we firmly believe the federal government must do more to encourage Ontario's long-term economic success and provide relief for Ontario workers and taxpayers."