Ontario Construction News staff writer
The federal government will provide $9.3 million to create an estimated 35 new affordable homes for individuals and families in Windsor through the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI). New housing units will support people experiencing or at risk of homelessness or living in temporary shelters because of the pandemic.
In its initial round, with funding of $1 billion announced in October 2020, the RHI exceeded its original target of 3,000 permanent affordable housing units and achieved 4,700 units nationally. Due to this success, an additional $1.5 billion for the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) was recently announced to create 4,500 new units of permanent affordable housing across the country. Thanks to this expansion, this initiative will now create over 9,200 affordable homes for the most vulnerable Canadians across the country.
“We have seen how COVID-19 has worsened existing housing and homelessness challenges and without urgent action by the Government of Canada, the pandemic could lead to a dramatic increase in homelessness,” said Irek Kusmierczyk, Windsor-Tecumseh MP.
“Creating housing rapidly to address this housing crisis is a priority for our Government. This new funding is part of our commitment to addressing severe housing needs across the country. It will provide immediate support to create safe and stable housing to thousands of vulnerable individuals and families.”
Officials say the new investment will create thousands of good jobs in the housing and construction sector, grow the middle class, and build back stronger communities, while getting us closer to our goal of eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada
“We look forward to continuing this partnership and reaching a 30% increase in new affordable housing units by 2028 as set out by our Housing and Homelessness Master Plan,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens.
