Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser, irritated by Ontario Premier Ford's ban on building four-storey apartment complexes in areas where one- and two-family homes predominantly exist, has threatened to cut off provincial funding that is part of a 10-year bilateral deal negotiated in 2018.

Under the terms of the agreement, the province was supposed to have built 19,960 affordable housing units over that period.

But by the end of 2024-25, only 1,184 projects are expected to be completed.

"That leaves 94% of the target for the last three years, which is unrealistic," Fraser wrote to his provincial counterpart Paul Calandra.

- Ontario is hopelessly behind all other provinces and territories. The lack of progress calls into question the achievement of provincial and, by and large, national goals.” It then notes that, although the province has submitted a revised implementation plan, it will not receive the promised $357 million from the federal government. Minister Calandra called this decision “unacceptable,” noting that the 2018 targets do not take into account the changing economic situation, and that Ontario has to spend huge amounts of money to renovate its existing housing stock or else it will leave a lot of people homeless.

Anastasia Chupina