Efforts to house more people in Sarnia are paying off after the city received a $400,000 cheque, through the province's Building Faster Fund, for exceeding its 2023 housing target with a total of 254 new units.
Associate Minister of Housing Rob Flack was at city hall on Wednesday for a cheque presentation, along with Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey.
The Building Faster Fund was introduced last year as a way to incentivize municipalities to address the housing supply crisis in their communities.
The $1.2 billion three-year program was expanded in January 2024 to include small communities, including Sarnia.
"Communities like Sarnia, Mayor [Mike] Bradley and team, are nimble, they can move quickly and they're getting results," said Flack. "I come from the business world and it's results that count, that's why we're so pleased to come across communities like Sarnia, to present these funds."
Bradley noted the work seen last year didn't just "happen overnight."
"The Official Plan — planning has been going on for at least five years. All of the infrastructure we've been putting on has been going on for a long time so now we're getting to the point where we can really start to move forward on growth. We need to get that Official Plan ratified so that we can move forward on the eastern part of the community, in the Bright's Grove area, to support the home building industry there."
Bradley also highlighted some of the ongoing affordable housing projects and proposals while giving credit to the County of Lambton for assisting with those initiatives.
City council will decide "in the near future" how to exactly spend the $400,000, however, Bradley hinted more funding may be on the way.
Based on discussions with Minister Flack, Bradley said he expects further support from the province to be announced during its 2024 budget, which will be released on March 26.
"I'm also hoping that the federal budget that's coming down on the 16th of April will have money too, to help us move forward and help these non-profits that will bring these affordable housing projects around as soon as possible," Bradley said.
"In this country, that is this wealthy, there should be no one sleeping on the streets of Sarnia."
Through the provincial fund, amounts distributed can vary from year to year, and municipalities that did not meet their assigned targets last year did not receive a cheque.
"I know over the three years what we probably can get," said Bradley. "London is not receiving a cheque, Windsor I don't believe received a cheque, because they don't have their act together. I think this is an important step forward for us to show that a smaller community can do it."
Funding is doled out to municipalities that have reached at least 80 per cent of their housing target for the year and increased funding is provided to those that exceed assigned goals.
Unspent money from the Building Faster Fund will be made available through an application process. Ten per cent of the fund ($120 million) has also been earmarked for small, rural and northern municipalities.
Ontario currently has a goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.
Flack said the province's fifth installment of the Housing Supply Action Plan will be released in April. Further details were not released but Flack said it will again include ambitious goals to get shovels in the ground faster.