Ottawa is cutting Toronto’s housing funding—and Mayor Chow is calling malarkey

Toronto and Ottawa are locked in another real estate standoff—and it’s become so frosty that a planned joint press conference between Mayor Olivia Chow and Housing Minister Gregor Robertson was cancelled last week without explanation.

Related: Affordable multiplexes in Etobicoke? Not if the neighbours have a say

Part of the dispute revolves around the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, through which the city is entitled to $118 million in 2025—but not without strings. Robertson has stipulated that Toronto risks losing $30 million from the pot should it fail to make six-unit multiplexes legal citywide by the end of the year.

The problem is that the mayor and council have so far approved such residences only in nine of 25 wards, with suburban NIMBYs refusing to play ball. Chow, in turn, has dismissed sixplexes for their low uptake, instead claiming that releasing the HAF funding in question would help the city waive development charges (which can run up to $150,000 per unit) on projects she claims would create 30,000 new units.

Then there’s the refugee shelter funding mess. Citing a change in strategy, the Mark Carney Liberals slashed their contribution to Toronto’s shelter system by 70 per cent, creating a $107-million shortfall. Sound familiar? This is the same issue that led to Chow’s feud with Justin Trudeau’s government in 2023, when asylum seekers were forced to sleep outside a downtown intake centre while higher levels of government bickered over who was responsible.

Related: Deafening TTC alarms have been keeping residents up all night for over a year

The federal government’s new goal is to move away from temporary measures, such paying for shelters and hotel rooms, and toward reception centres and longer-term housing. It also says the influx of asylum seekers in Canada has dropped 40 per cent compared to last year.

City stats paint a different picture: refugee claimants in Toronto shelters have increased almost seven-fold since 2021, from 530 to roughly 3,500 as of this August. Today, refugee claimants represent about 40 per cent of the total shelter population. City staffers warn that, without the additional funding, they will be forced to cancel or delay plans for 250 new spaces for asylum seekers.