Chatham-Kent mayor Darrin Canniff wants the province to push their housing target for the area significantly higher.
To ease Ontario’s housing crunch, the Ford government has pushed for the construction of 1.5 million new homes by 2031. That includes provincially-mandated housing targets for the 50 largest municipalities. Chatham-Kent was given a target of building 1,100, which it should hit sometime this year, more than seven years earlier than its goal date.
According to a provincial website, Chatham-Kent built 522 homes in 2023, which is 644 percent higher than its goal of 81 homes. That percentage is the highest of any municipality in Ontario.
Canniff said Ontario’s associate housing minister, Rob Flack, told him that Chatham-Kent is the poster child for housing growth.
With Chatham-Kent crushing their housing targets, the mayor has asked for the targets to be increased.
The reason why Canniff wants the province to up its target is simple—money. If the targets are raised and Chatham-Kent hits them, they will get more money from the province.
“Increase our target because we would get more base funding with the higher target,” Canniff said.
The money comes from the Building Faster Fund, a three-year, $1.2-billion pot announced by Ontario last August to incentivize municipalities to accelerate home construction. Funding is allocated to municipalities that reach 80 per cent or more of their annual housing targets.
The province recently gave Chatham-Kent $440,000 for surpassing their target in 2023.