WHEREAS The Regional Municipality of York is one of Canada’s largest municipalities; and,
WHEREAS The Regional Municipality of York is ranked as one of Canada’s fastest growing regions; and,
WHEREAS The Regional Municipality of York is expected to grow to approximately 2.05 million people by 2051, adding over 944,000 new residents; and,
WHEREAS The Regional Municipality of York distributes forecasted growth to its nine cities and towns, and all nine municipalities play an important role in achieving regional and provincial growth targets; and,
WHEREAS York Region’s northern six municipalities, Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, King, Newmarket, and Whitchurch-Stouffville represent approximately 30% of this future growth; and,
WHEREAS York Region appreciates the $59 million in funding provided to the City of Vaughan, the $31 million provided to the City of Richmond Hill and the $59 million provided to the City of Markham from the Federal Housing Accelerator Fund; and,
WHEREAS York Region’s northern six municipalities, except for East Gwillimbury all applied to the Federal Housing Accelerator Fund to support this growth but were declined without explanation; and,
WHEREAS this important funding would have helped York Region’s northern six municipalities build communities that support York Region’s growth targets with a variety of housing options, significantly contributing to the Federal and Provincial governments respective goals of building more housing; and,
WHEREAS, to keep property taxes stable, all of York Region’s nine municipalities need long-term predictable funding from the federal government for housing enabling investments; and,
WHEREAS the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has recently released there is a critical need for the federal government to invest in the infrastructure supporting new housing units, such as water and wastewater, public transit, local roads, and climate change adaptation measures. This is crucial to support quality of life for Canadian families, today and for generations to come in all of York Region’s nine cities and towns;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
- York Regional Council formally request a re-assessment of York Region’s northern six municipalities 2023 Housing Accelerator Fund applications by the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities of Canada and the Canadian Municipal Housing Corporation.
- Any further Housing Accelerator Fund investments in future budgets prioritize municipalities with significant forecasted residential and employment growth like York Region's northern six municipalities.
- This resolution be forwarded to the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities of Canada, the Canadian Municipal Housing Corporation, Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO), Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM), Small Urban GTHA Mayors Caucus, York Region Members of Parliament and all nine York Region municipalities.