BURST
The housing accelerator fund , a $4.4 billion fund launched in 2023 by the federal Liberal government to help municipalities get more housing built faster, has become a topic of discussion in this year’s election.
The claim
The federal Liberals’ housing plan under Prime Minister Mark Carney mentions a goal of “building on the success of the housing accelerator fund.”
But Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has deemed the fund a failure and pledged to end it.
What we found
Municipal leaders in B.C. say the housing accelerator was a good initial step toward addressing municipalities’ need to fund infrastructure as they add density and population. But many say the program needs improvement and should go further. Further, it is not clear whether the fund has met or even come close to the targeted level of housing completions set out in the Liberals’ 2021 platform.
The accelerator fund is set to expire in 2028. While the Liberals have said they would build on the its success and would publicly report on municipalities’ progress on speeding up permitting, the party has not provided details about what would happen with the fund, in terms of dollars or timelines.
Delta Coun. Dylan Kruger believes the fund initially showed promise. Municipal governments desperately need funding for costly infrastructure upgrades to accommodate population growth, he said, and, “You’re not going to get a local mayor or councillor saying negative things about any level of government that’s giving them money.”
However, many Metro Vancouver cities, including Delta, initially had their applications rejected during the fund’s first year of operation. Eventually, Delta was approved earlier this year for $14.2 million , but, Kruger says, this funding represents “a drop in the bucket” compared to the community’s infrastructure needs.
“The solutions that are being proposed are out of touch with the scale of the problems on the ground. That feeling is widespread with almost every mayor and councillor I talk to, regardless of political stripe — left wingers, right wingers, Conservatives, Liberals, NDP. That is the prevailing sentiment of local governments,” Kruger said.
The Conservatives say the results speak for themselves, pointing out that after some of B.C.’s biggest cities received millions through the accelerator fund, housing starts decreased significantly last year.
Poilievre and the Conservatives are levying at least some of the blame for Canada’s housing woes toward municipal governments. In an emailed statement, the Conservatives said: “The same municipal gatekeepers that Carney wants to fund are actively blocking housing projects,” specifically mentioning Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim who recently introduced a motion aimed at stopping additional supportive housing being built.
Vancouver, along with cities such as Toronto and Winnipeg, received millions through the housing accelerator fund and then made moves to restrict housing supply, the Conservative statement said. “And now, Carney wants to reward their failure with even more funding.”
The Liberals first unveiled the housing accelerator fund in their 2021 platform , setting a target of completing 100,000 new middle-class homes by 2025. But neither the party nor the CMHC was able to provide a number for how many homes funded by the program have been completed as of this year.
The Conservatives have also criticized the Liberals’ program for a lack of accountability around whether cities meet their commitments.
The Conservatives have said they would kill the accelerator fund, and use the money saved to fund the removal of GST on building new homes with below-market rentals.
The Conservative plan includes financially rewarding municipalities that approve more housing, while withholding transit and infrastructure funding from cities that miss housing targets.
Kruger understands the rationale of “carrots and sticks”. But he worries about the prospect of Ottawa punishing municipalities that may be doing everything they can to approve more homes but still see construction slowdown due to macroeconomic factors far outside city hall’s control.
Union of B.C. Municipalities president Trish Mandewo, a Coquitlam councillor, declined to comment on the federal parties’ positions, but said the accelerator fund has been “quite successful” from the perspective of local governments, and she hopes the next federal government will take that success into consideration when deciding about the fund’s future.
Federation of Canadian Municipalities president Rebecca Bligh, a Vancouver councillor, also declined to comment directly about the merits of the different parties’ promises. She said the accelerator fund was “a positive initial effort,” but what Canada’s municipalities really need is a long-term strategy and modernized system to ensure municipalities can cover the cost of infrastructure such as roads, firehalls, and community centres.
“This approach aims to enable us to build more homes more quickly and address how municipalities, the engines of economic growth in Canada, are funded,” Bligh said.
Trevor Hargreaves, the B.C. Real Estate Association’s senior vice-president of policy research and government relations, called the fund “a partial success” but its focus is too wide — including funding things such as digitizing permit processes — and the money should be used more efficiently.
“I don’t think the program needs to be stopped, it just needs to be retooled to fund the core priority areas,” Hargreaves said. And in B.C., he said, that priority is infrastructure financing.
Municipalities, under pressure to increase housing approvals, are trying to pay for the needed infrastructure by hiking the fees paid by developers, which in turn hinders the viability of many developments, Hargreaves said. That is why the accelerator fund should be retooled to primarily provide financing for infrastructure in communities that have displayed a willingness to boost housing supply.