The Ontario government is investing up to $1 billion in loans to provide municipalities with more financing options for water infrastructure projects that enable the construction of more homes.
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The new Housing-Enabling Water Infrastructure (HEWI) lending stream, under Infrastructure Ontario’s (IO) Loan Program, will support the construction, expansion and rehabilitation of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure projects that enable new homes.
Infrastructure Ontario will begin accepting applications from municipalities on December 2, 2024.
The lending stream will provide municipalities, including small, rural and northern municipalities, with more flexible loan options during both the construction and repayment phases of the project.
Municipalities will be able take advantage of flexible borrowing terms that allow them to defer interest payments during the construction phase until projects are substantially complete, select longer debenture repayment terms of up to 40 years, choose more flexible repayment terms and incur lower administration costs.
The government is also investing nearly $2 billion in housing-enabling infrastructure funding through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, in addition to the provincial Building Faster Fund, to help municipalities deliver the core infrastructure needed – such as roads, bridges, drinking water and wastewater facilities – to build more homes across the province.
This investment is part of the most ambitious capital plan in Ontario’s history, with more than $191 billion over the next decade to build and improve transit, highways, hospitals, schools, long-term care facilities and other critical public infrastructure, while strengthening the economy for the future.
"Our government has been making significant investments in housing-enabling infrastructure so that as interest rates start to come down, municipalities have enough serviced land to build the family-sized homes their communities need," Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing said.
"Through our $3-billion plan to get water and wastewater infrastructure in the ground, we are untangling a mess created by the previous government and getting more homes built faster." ■