[Editor's Note: This article has been updated to remove the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation in BC, which the CMHC said has not agreed to the bonus yet.]
Ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney calling a snap election on Sunday, the Government of Canada made a wave of funding announcements on Friday and Saturday via its numerous funding programs, one of which was performance-based bonuses via the Housing Accelerator Fund.
Introduced in Budget 2022, the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) is an incentive program where local governments can receive funding in exchange for making changes — to policy, processes, or zoning, for example — that faciliate the creation of more housing. Upon application, the local government and the federal government sign an agreement that ties the funds to those changes. As part of the agreements, the recipient also outlines the three-year and 10-year housing goal they are targeting using those funds.
The Housing Accelerator Fund launched with a pool of $4 billion. The Government of Canada opened applications in March 2023, then began making funding announcements in September 2023, and has now reached agreements with over 150 local governments, according to STOREYS' Housing Accelerator Fund Tracker.
Through Budget 2024, the federal government then allocated an additional $400 million to the HAF and began the second round of funding announcements in January.
On Saturday, it then announced a total of $73,798,000 in bonus funding for 27 of the "top-performing" communities that have previously received funding.
"To be considered a top performer, communities met their unit forecasts and delivered on their HAF Action Plan commitments for the first year," the Government of Canada said in its press release. "They also proposed additional initiatives to accelerate housing making them eligible to receive up to 10% of the value of their original agreement in additional funding."
In other words, the difference between bonus payments is not entirely reflective of performance, and is more reflective of the size of their original agreement, which were themselves indirectly correlated to their population.
That being said, the City of Calgary received the largest bonus — $22,843,000, around 10% of their original $228 million HAF agreement — and the bonus must undoubtedly feel good considering their original agreement was held up due to a standoff with then-Minister of Housing Sean Fraser. In a press release on Saturday, the City outlined the progress they have made and said it will be increasing their 10-year housing goal from 35,000 to 42,667.
Edmonton was also a top-performer, as were two of the largest cities in British Columbia — Vancouver and Surrey — and a few of the larger cities in Ontario. (Notably, however, Toronto did not make the cut.)
The 27 top-performing communities and the Housing Accelerator Fund bonus they are receiving are as follows:
- Calgary, AB - $22,843,000
- Edmonton, AB - $17,484,000
- London, ON - $7,391,000
- Surrey, BC - $5,100,000
- Vancouver, BC - $4,375,000
- Kitchener, ON - $4,214,000
- Coquitlam, BC - $2,480,000
- Thunder Bay, ON - $2,077,000
- Waterloo, ON - $1,350,000
- Moncton, NB - $1,280,000
- Saint John, NB - $918,000
- Iqaluit, NU - $887,000
- Sylvan Lake, AB - $540,000
- Edmundston, NB - $415,000
- Bathurst, NB - $320,000
- Grand-Bouctouche, NB - $284,000
- Tsawwassen First Nation, BC - $284,000
- Caraquet, NB - $269,000
- Humboldt, SK - $226,000
- Gibsons, BC - $204,000
- Bow Island, AB - $160,000
- Bowen Island, BC - $160,000
- Tobique First Nation, NB - $142,000
- Tsal'alh First Nation, BC - $142,000
- Dawson City, YT - $118,000
- Bilijk, NB - $71,000
- Brokenhead, MB - $64,000
