London has achieved its latest residential construction milestone to ensure it receives a share of the federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF). On Monday, the City of London surpassed its three-year Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) target of 11,803 new housing units, reaching 11,966 new units a month ahead of the Sept. 7 federal deadline. “We will unlock additional funding for the municipality. I think it’s upwards of $20 million,” explained Mayor Josh Morgan. The federal HAF provides funding to municipalities to accelerate housing construction and support long-term changes that increase housing supply. London was the first city in Canada to receive funding from HAF, and has met each of its targets since. Morgan suggests the additional funding could benefit some popular municipal housing initiatives, “Very successful programs like the office-to-residential conversions, or the transit-oriented development programs that we know are oversubscribed and run out of money.” London has also completed all 11 initiatives included in its HAF Action Plan: The mayor added, “I want to thank our staff who are working very hard on this, but also those who submit the applications, pull the permits, and build the housing in our community.”
