Provincial housing minister responds to Sutcliffe’s call for more supportive housing funding

Ottawa’s mayor is asking Ontario’s premier why Toronto is receiving 60 times more funding than Ottawa for affordable housing.

In a letter addressed to Premier Doug Ford, Mark Sutcliffe noted that Ottawa will only receive $845,100 in 2023 for supportive housing, whereas Toronto will receive $48 million, as per the 2023 Ontario budget.

Sutcliffe notes that while Toronto’s population is three times larger, Ottawa still needs adequate funding.

“Based on Toronto’s allocation, Ottawa’s share should be in the range of at least $16 to $18 million,” Sutcliffe wrote, adding that Ottawa is the second largest city in the province and the capital’s homeless population includes those with high acuity needs.

“This shortfall will force us to cancel 54 supportive housing units that were expected to become operational over the next 18 months,” the mayor added.

Sutcliffe noted that without enough funding, the City of Ottawa will not be able to build between 570 to 850 new affordable housing options and Ottawa’s 10-year housing and homelessness plan could be “severely” compromised.

Although the city is doing everything it can to support Ottawa’s homeless population, Sutcliffe emphasized that operational funding is still needed.

The 2023 Ontario budget committed an additional $202 million each year for supportive housing and homelessness programs across the province.

Meantime, the province’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Steve Clark, had issued the following response:

“As has been explained to Mayor Sutcliffe and City of Ottawa officials on multiple occasions over the last several weeks, homelessness prevention program funding (HPP) is based on an updated formula that applies to every municipal service manager in the province. The updated model is based on a community’s share of homelessness, supportive housing units, low-income households, households in deep core housing need (as defined by CMHC), and Indigenous and youth populations. 

The updated funding model was developed based on feedback from the auditor general and municipal stakeholders who were clear that the previous model was not transparent and didn’t accurately reflect measures of local need. Under the previous model some municipalities, like Ottawa, received disproportionately higher funding than other municipalities with higher determined need.  Under the updated model all municipalities will maintain or receive increased funding.”