Federal housing fund applications by six Metro Vancouver cities rejected

Burnaby's Brentwood Town Centre skyline. (EB Adventure Photography/Shutterstock)

Daily Hive Urbanized has learned at least six municipal governments in Metro Vancouver were unsuccessful with their applications to receive funding from the Government of Canada’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).

The jurisdictions that have seen their applications denied are the Township of Langley, City of Langley, City of Maple Ridge, City of Port Coquitlam, City of White Rock, and City of Delta.

The federal government’s HAF is funded by a $4 billion nation-wide pool for allocation to successful applicant municipal governments.

You might also like:

Under HAF, municipal governments can fulfill the requirements by streamlining development policies, updating community plans, reforming zoning and bylaws, and changing policies that help catalyze more housing (including affordable housing, rental housing, and transit-oriented development).

These strategies will expedite housing, with the federal government setting a goal of expediting at least 100,000 permitted new homes over the first three years of HAF, and almost 550,000 permitted new homes over 10 years.

In exchange for the reforms, the federal government through HAF will provide municipal governments with significant incentive funding to help cover the cost of the HAF policy-related changes for the cities, which can also go directly towards building affordable housing, and housing-related infrastructure and community amenities.

Delta city councillor Dylan Kruger called the decision “disappointing,” and asserted his municipal government’s application outlined tangible actions that were aligned with HAF’s requirements.

“It’s disappointing that this hard work will not be rewarded with needed federal funding for infrastructure in our community,” Kruger told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“Federal funding through the HAF program would have supported our efforts, helped address staff capacity, and contributed towards planning for critical infrastructure upgrades needed to support growth.”

Kruger adds that Delta City Council has already put into motion new major directions, including starting the process to update the municipality’s official community plan (OCP). He says Delta is at the forefront of cities in Metro Vancouver in terms of expedited application approvals, and it would likely be amongst the first municipal governments to update its OCP in order to satisfy the Government of British Columbia’s various new legislations relating to housing affordability and supply.

Upon inquiry, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) told Daily Hive Urbanized the rejections these Metro Vancouver cities received are a result of the $4 billion HAF now being tapped out, combined with the intense competition between applicants nation-wide.

“Unfortunately, demand for the program significantly exceeded the available [HAF] budget,” a CMHC spokesperson told Daily Hive Urbanized, who also noted that the federal crown corporation received over 500 applications.

“The evaluation process was highly competitive, with many strong applications received.”

They added that CMHC will continue to work with all applicants to support municipal governments through other federal housing programs.

There are two streams for the HAF program — “large/urban” and “small/rural/north/Indigenous.”

According to the HAF guidelines, applicants for “large/urban” must be jurisdictions with a population of 10,000 residents or more.

The funding methodology calculation takes into the three considerations of base funding ($20,000 per residential unit catalyzed by HAF), top-up funding (incentivizing certain types of housing supply, with $15,000 per multi-family unit near rapid transit, $12,000 per multi-family unit for the middle class, and $7,000 per other multi-family unit), and an affordable housing bonus ($19,000 per unit). Single-family homes are not eligible for top-up funding.

Announced last month, the City of Coquitlam was the last municipality in Metro Vancouver to be awarded HAF funding — $25 million to help fast-track 2,800 new homes over 10 years, including over 650 new homes within the next three years.

The combined HAF allocation to Metro Vancouver municipalities to date now stands at about $314 million, including $115 million to the City of Vancouver, $96 million to the City of Surrey, $43 million to the City of Burnaby, and $36 million to the City of Richmond.

The HAF allocations to the City of Surrey and the City of Burnaby were initially withheld last fall due to the federal government’s disagreement with Metro Vancouver Regional District’s new fees on building development, which will add to the cost of housing construction.

Provincially, the total has reached more than $411 million, including $31.5 million to the City of Kelowna and $7 million to the District of Squamish. Other successful BC applicants entail $25.6 million to the City of Abbotsford, $18 million to the City of Victoria, over $10 million to the City of Campbell River, and over $5 million to the Town of Comox.

Elsewhere in Canada, some of the most notable HAF recipients include Calgary with $228 million, Toronto with $471 million, Mississauga with $113 million, Brampton with $114 million, London with $74 million, Vaughan with $59 million, Hamilton with $93.5 million, Halifax with $79 million, Moncton with $15.5 million, and the Government of Quebec with $900 million. Under a special agreement, the HAF allocation to Quebec’s provincial government alone is about 23% of the total $4 billion pool, which will be directed towards Quebec’s municipal governments through an intergovernmental department.

The first city to be awarded by HAF is London, Ontario, which received $74 million in mid-September 2023.

You might also like: