Delta secures $14 million from federal Housing Accelerator Fund | Daily Hive

City of Delta secures $14 million from federal Housing Accelerator Fund

Delta Rise tower. (Google Maps)

The City of Delta is the latest municipal government in Metro Vancouver to receive funding from the Government of Canada’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).

The federal government announced on Monday it has reached an agreement to allocate $14.2 million from the second intake of the HAF to the City.

You might also like:

Using this funding, Delta’s municipal government is expected to expedite the construction of 424 additional homes over the next three years, and 4,100 homes over the next 10 years.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the City has committed to initiatives such as increasing infill housing, reducing parking requirements, modernizing zoning to streamline development approvals, expanding the use of artificial intelligence to expedite permit approvals, identifying opportunities to build affordable housing on civic and institutional lands through incentives and partnerships.

“We know that a lack of housing options and supply is one of the most pressing challenges facing our City. This grant, through the Housing Accelerator Fund, will serve as critical support towards addressing the impacts of the housing crisis and build housing to meet the needs of our community,” said Delta Mayor George V. Harvie in a statement.

The federal government first launched the HAF in March 2023 with an initial pool of $4 billion in funding. By early 2024, the HAF was already tapped out, which subsequently led the federal government to top up the program in the 2024 budget with an additional $400 million to enable a second intake.

A previous application by the City of Delta during the first intake of HAF was initially rejected by CMHC due to the complete allocation of the initial pool of funding. At least six municipal governments in Metro Vancouver were initially rejected for this reason.

Prior to Delta, the last municipal government in Metro Vancouver to receive a grant from HAF was the City of New Westminster, which received $11.4 million in an announcement made in August 2024.

The combined Housing Accelerator Fund allocation to Metro Vancouver municipalities to date now stands at roughly $330 million, including $115 million to the City of Vancouver, $96 million to the City of Surrey, $43 million to the City of Burnaby, $36 million to the City of Richmond, and $25 million to the City of Coquitlam. Provincially, to date, the total has reached over $430 million or roughly 10% of the combined $4.4 billion available nationwide across the first and second rounds of funding.

The City of Surrey’s HAF allocation was confirmed in January 2024. Last week, Surrey’s municipal government indicated that various new incentives funded by HAF have already catalyzed and expedited 2,560 net new homes — 78% of the target goal of 3,300 units of the two incentive programs combined, with these incentives reducing the fees for transit-oriented developments and non-market housing.

You might also like: