Announced on April 2nd, 2024, the Federal Government plans to allocate more funds to programs that support infrastructure delivery across the country as part of Budget 2024. This additional funding now comes with requirements to accelerate housing delivery.  

UDI has advocated for senior levels of government to increase their support for critical infrastructure needed to unlock development, and we’re pleased that the Federal Government is linking funding to certain measures that support housing delivery – like freezing fee and charge increases. However, much more funding needs to be made available to deliver the infrastructure required to support growth. 

Specific measures include: 

• An additional $400 million top-up for the Housing Accelerator Fund. Applications are open to municipalities to support policies and programs that fast-track housing approvals.  
• A new $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund to support provinces, territories and local governments with critical infrastructure. The funding will be divided between municipalities and provinces and territories: 
  • “$1 billion available for municipalities to support urgent infrastructure needs that will directly create more housing. 
  • $5 billion for agreements with provinces and territories to support long-term priorities. Provinces and territories can only access this funding if they commit to key actions that increase housing supply: 
    • Require municipalities to broadly adopt four units as-of-right and allow more “missing middle” homes, including duplexes, triplexes, townhouses, and other multi-unit apartments. 
    • Implement a three-year freeze on increasing development charges from April 2, 2024, levels for municipalities with a population greater than 300,000. 
    • Adopt forthcoming changes to the National Building Code to support more accessible, affordable, and climate-friendly housing options. 
    • Require as-of-right construction for the government’s upcoming Housing Design Catalogue. 
    • Implement measures from the Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights and Renters’ Bill of Rights.”