Belleville will receive just over $801,000 for almost reaching its new housing-start target for last year. Ontario determined 250 new residential units were started in 2024, just shy of the 258 target.
The funds will be used to support the $55M Avonlough Sewage Pumping Station project by increasing the Building Faster Fund allocation by $801,000 and reducing the Ontario Community Infrastructure Funding by $801,000 for Phase 1 of the Avonlough Pumping Station. The station will support developments to accommodate 20,000 new residents in the west end.
According to Provincial data, the City has fulfilled 25.9% or about a quarter of the 10-year
housing pledge within 2023 and 2024.
The province utilizes data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Starts and Completions Survey; Market Absorption Survey Methodology; and the Ministry of Long-Term Care. The CMHC methodology for tracking housing starts in Ontario involves manual inspection from CMHC to affirm when houses have started.
Staff say Belleville’s records show performance of 157%
City Staff acknowledge differences in the data reported by the City and the Province for the housing start data for the Building Faster Fund. The Building Section utilizes CityView software, which meticulously tracks data related to building permits and activity observed by City Staff, including housing starts. As mentioned in this report, some of the data from the Province requires a manual observation to affirm the data the City reports on.
According to the City of Belleville’s Building Section’s records, the City has exceeded the BFF targets of 2023 and 2024. Moreover, the City’s records demonstrate that the performance percentage for 2024 would have been 157% instead of the percentage reported by the Province of 96.9%.
This is disappointing that we achieve it and most importantly, the private sector, who actually does the building, is building at 157% and we’re not getting the credit for it. So it’s unfortunate
Councillor Paul Carr
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