It’s not every day that the Prime Minister of Canada comes to town, and it’s not every time that he’s bringing millions of dollars to help tackle the housing crisis. But both of these things came to pass on Friday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the in-progress Kindle Communities project on Shelldale and announced that the City of Guelph’s share of the House Accelerator Fund is $21.4 million.

“We have been working with now 20 cities across the country that have signed the housing accelerator agreements that reward cities that have been forward thinking, ambitious and willing to challenge the way things used to be done, willing to challenge NIMBYism, and get things done to grow communities and to meet the needs of the future,” said Trudeau who noted that he initially announced the $4 billion fund in Guelph almost a year ago.

The funds are meant to be used to “eliminate barriers” to getting more housing built. In a follow-up media release from the City of Guelph, there will eight main initiatives from the Housing Accelerator funding including the development of a new Housing Affordability Strategy, improvements to the development and planning processes, and the creation of more so-called missing middle housing like fourplexes, multiplexes, detached secondary suites in existing neighbourhoods.

“We’re looking at unlocking an additional 750 new units that are dearly needed within our community,” said Mayor Cam Guthrie who was also on hand for the announcement. “And this is going to help unlock thousands of units because of the structural changes that we’ll be making inside City Hall to make processes faster, to make policy decisions come quicker, and to have infrastructure lined up and ready to go so that housing can get built faster. We all know we need it.”

The immediate goal is to build 739 new units in Guelph in the next three years, plus another 9,450 homes over the next 10 years. To get Housing Accelerator Funding, each municipality had to apply with a plan to cut red tape and fast track construction by exploiting local partnerships and opportunities in order to meet the unique challenges the applying municipality is facing.

“That’s what this is all about, recognising partnerships across orders of government and leaning on ambitious and visionary local leaders, from municipal leaders to all the great community organisations who’ve been working, particularly here in Guelph, for decades to solve some really challenging and persistent problems,” Trudeau said.

The site of the announcement was the Kindle Communities supportive housing project which is still under construction that will be home to 32 people with wraparound care courtesy of Guelph Community Health Centre and the Stonehenge Therapeutic Community.

“We do partnerships well in Guelph. We are fortunate that this project has broad community support,” said Daria Allan-Ebron, the CEO of Kindle Communities. “10 Shelldale will be the third permanent supportive housing project to open in the City of Guelph within a year. We are so proud to join valued community partners Stepping Stone and Wyndham House, who opened their buildings in 2023.”

A fourth project, transitional housing for 28 people, is currently in development at 65 Delhi Street. Wellington County is converting the old isolation ward just down the street from Guelph General Hospital.

It was a good news story, but it’s not the end of the story. As pointed out in the Q&A afterward, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about how quick projects can get built, especially with a limited number of tradespersons and construction workers available.

“We recognise there is no one thing that is a magic solution on housing, it takes a multi-layered approach. So even as we’re announcing the signing of the Housing Accelerator Fund, we’re not doing that in an empty field,” Trudeau said. “Yes, construction workers and the availability of labour are challenges we’re facing, which is why we continue to have ambitious immigration targets, but we need to do it in such a way that we are able to get them into the kinds of jobs where they’re needed and solving the challenge that we’re facing.”

Trudeau was also asked about a more immediate response and getting assistance to people who are homeless right now, especially with a winter storm bearing down on the region for Friday night into Saturday. Trudeau said that the federal government has invested millions of dollars into the cause, and acknowledged that more still needed to be done.

“As a government, we are committed to ending chronic homelessness and we have been acting in that way and investing in partnerships, not just municipalities but the incredible community organisations that have been on the frontlines of not just solving homelessness by putting people in units, but by creating the wraparound services,” Trudeau said.

But it’s the government’s commitment to funding these programs that’s in question. Late last year, the Sanguen Health Van team appeared at both Guelph City Council and the Wellington County Social Services Committee to get new funding when their present federal grant lapses in March. When asked Trudeau said that federal action is limited because of jurisdictional issues. In other words, we need more help from the Government of Ontario too.

“Ongoing operational funding, whether it’s for health services or community counselling services or supportive programmes to help people, often need to come from the provincial level as well,” Trudeau explained. “That’s where all orders of government need to work together.

“I can tell you that the City of Guelph has consistently stepped up with supports for the kind of programmes we need on the frontlines to helping the most vulnerable,” he added. “The federal government has continually – even though it’s stretching outside of our strict constitutional mandate – been there to invest in shelters to invest in programmes that are helping people. We do need the Province to step up a little bit more, and we’re always there to work with them as they do.”

Along with the announcement, Trudeau toured the Kindle Communities project and met with local seniors who are also the beneficiaries of new affordable housing.

You can watch the full presser below: