Thunder Bay has been awarded $870,890 through the Building Faster Fund for exceeding the provincially set 2023 housing target.

“I’m pleased to see that our government is providing additional funding to the City of Thunder Bay for their hard work in ensuring that their Housing Targets have been met. Housing is a critical issue for all of Ontario at this time and the provincial incentives are key to making sure our residents can access affordable housing,” said MPP for Thunder Bay-Atikokan Kevin Holland

Ontario has set a goal of building 1.5 million new homes (houses, apartments, or housing unit starts) by 2031, and the province’s 50 largest municipalities were given a housing target. The province established the Building Faster Fund to help encourage cities to hit their target.

The Fund was announced last August and it’s a three-year $1.2 billion program focused on addressing the housing crisis.

To access Building Faster funds a municipality with a housing target would have had to hit at least 80 per cent of their target.

Thunder Bay’s target for 2023 was 161 new homes and the city exceeded its target by 124 per cent building 200 new homes.

“Thunder Bay is getting it done on housing and we are proud to reward them for their success,” said Premier Doug Ford. “My challenge to Mayor Boshcoff and to every mayor in Ontario is to get even more homes built in the coming years so we can make life more affordable and keep the dream of homeownership alive for families across the province.”

The city’s target is to have 2,200 new homes built by 2031, and it is currently unclear what the 2024 housing target is.