The federal minister of housing, infrastructure and communities wants to know what Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett thinks of the Conservative Party's plan to cut a program that's poised to deliver more than $13.3 million to Cambridge for strategies to build more affordable housing.
In a letter addressed to the mayor yesterday Sean Fraser says he's curious to know what the impact would be in Cambridge if Canada's Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) was cut.
As reported by Canadian Press, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre announced Monday that he would abolish the program and instead use the money to fund his plan to scrap the federal sales tax on new homes sold for less than $1 million.
He called the HAF a "disastrous program that has led to less homebuilding and more local bureaucracies."
Administered through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) the HAF was announced last year as a way to incentivize the construction of more affordable housing.
The City of Cambridge applied last October, outlining a $10 million action plan with eight strategies designed to help get 603 new residential units built.
Although the city was hoping for up to $21 million to implement its plan, Cambridge earned access to just over $13.3 million in HAF funding last spring.
Although the city's HAF allotment amounted to a little more than half of what it had asked for, Cambridge MP Bryan May said back in May the investment will help fast track 350 homes and help build 3,500 more over the next decade.
So far that money has been used to create a $1.5 million incentive program that offers Cambridge residents up to $10,000 for building additional rental units in their homes.
It has also been used to develop and implement concepts for new affordable housing builds on city owned lands. Those projects are just starting to take shape after council approval.
The city is working on zoning reform and other projects designed to fast track housing builds.
In his letter to Liggett, Fraser encourages the mayor to let the community know what it would mean should the program be scrapped.
"By your analysis, you have told us that this funding will lead to an additional 3,625 permits issued for new homes in your community over a 10-year period," he wrote. "I am interested in learning more about the impact of the Official Opposition’s plan to cut $13,347,095 from Cambridge."
Fraser is hoping for a response by Nov. 8.
