TORONTO, Ontario, November 18, 2003 — The Honourable Steven Mahoney, Secretary of State responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and the Honourable David Caplan, Ontario's Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal, have pledged to work together closely to create more affordable housing units under the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Agreement.
The two ministers, who held their first face-to-face meeting last week in Toronto, committed to a new spirit of co-operation in generating affordable housing under the federal/provincial program.
Federal funding together with matching contributions from the Government of Ontario, municipalities and other private and non-profit partners will help to create up to 20,000 new rental and homeownership housing units in Ontario.
The discussions between the ministers also covered the allocation of additional funds announced by the Government of Canada in the last federal budget, as well as new homeownership initiatives.
"I am pleased that we finally have a government in Ontario that is committed to working with the Government of Canada to provide the residents of Ontario with quality, affordable housing," said Secretary of State Mahoney. "We agreed to co-operate on the implementation of housing projects, and the Province's commitment to do so will go a long way to achieving our goals."
"We believe the provincial government has a responsibility to help provide affordable housing," said Minister Caplan. "Our commitment to match federal support to create some 20,000 new affordable housing units is just one element of the province's new approach to housing in Ontario. While the $5.6 billion deficit may affect how quickly we can build these units, we will deliver on this core commitment to help needy families. In fact, we will be announcing hundreds of new units very shortly."
The Affordable Housing Initiative was announced in the Speech from the Throne in 2001, as a federal response to the affordable housing situation in Canada. The $680 million in federal funding was confirmed in the 2001 federal budget, and an additional $320 million was announced in the 2003 federal budget. This brings the federal commitment to affordable housing to $1 billion by 2007-2008.
Chris Vivone
Office of Secretary of State Mahoney
(613) 991-1707
David Priebe
Office of Minister Caplan
(416) 325-2456
For more information visit www.mah.gov.on.ca