Overview of NHS Fund Allocation: projects completed, in progress, or have received funding commitments

This data relates to 5 NHS programs targeted for supply and repairs, such as the Affordable Housing Fund, Rapid Housing Initiative and the Apartment Construction Loan Program.

To date, over 23.7 billion dollars have been allocated or committed to projects across Canada through these programs. The majority of this funding has been allocated to Ontario, with over 11.07 billion dollars in total funding.

Of this 23.7 billion dollars, 6.2 billion dollars are in the form of contribution (26%), and 17.5 billion dollars are in the form of loans (74%).

Program abbreviations:

  • Affordable Housing Fund = AHF
  • Rapid Housing Initiative = RHI
  • Apartment Construction Loan Program = ACLP
  • Affordable Housing Innovation Fund = AHIF
  • Federal Lands Initiative = FLI

Note about the data: funding and unit totals are slightly under counted in this data compared to the aggregate numbers presented in CMHC’s progress report. I believe this is likely due to them excluding projects that have conditional commitments from this data, but including them in their reports. I have yet to receive comment from CMHC on this.

Note: this plot is interactive. Look at the icons on the top right of each plot to enable different interactive actions, such as scrolling in or zooming. Hover over the bars to see more details about the funding amounts and programs.

This funding amount has been used to support 248,131 new and existing units across Canada. 191,823 of these units are considered affordable by CMHC’s standards, and 56,308 units are not.

155,354 of these units are repairs and renewals, and 92,748 are new construction. A significant portion of funded units are related to repairing affordable units in Ontario (100,959 units).

Note: this plot is interactive. Look at the icons on the top right of each plot to enable different interactive actions, such as scrolling in or zooming. Hover over the bars to see more details about the funding amounts and programs.

A large portion of funded projects across Canada are not yet complete, especially regarding repairs and renewals. In a following section of this page, we will see that the majority of these expected repairs are within Ontario.

A Focused Look at Ontario

Community housing providers, Ontario municipalities, and developers have received 11.07 billion dollars in funding so far under the NHS. 2.84 billion dollars of these fund were provided in contribution, and 8.23 billion dollars in loan. Over half ($5.59B) was allocated to the Apartment Construction Loan Program, for the construction of new units. The Affordable Housing Fund received approximately 4.14 billion dollars, and largely funded the repairs of existing units (120,203 units).

Ontario has 36,650 units funded for new construction:

  • 15,277 through the Apartment Construction Loan Program
  • 10,126 through the Affordable Housing Fund
  • 2,667 through the Rapid Housing Initiative
  • 7,694 through the Affordable Housing Innovation Fund
  • 886 through Federal Lands Initiative

Note: this plot is interactive. Look at the icons on the top right of each plot to enable different interactive actions, such as scrolling in or zooming. Hover over the bars to see more details about the funding amounts and programs.

Looking specifically at affordable units, the vast majority of units are repairs through funds received by municipalities (96,692 units).

Note: this plot is interactive. Look at the icons on the top right of each plot to enable different interactive actions, such as scrolling in or zooming. Hover over the bars to see more details about the funding amounts and programs.

Going a level deeper and looking specifically at construction of affordable housing units, private developers are the most common proponent of projects, receiving funds predominately through the ACLP.

The Affordable Housing Fund goes primarily to non-profit and co-op organizations, and is funding the construction of 6,640 new affordable units across all recipients in Ontario.

Note: I suspect faith-based recipients receiving Affordable Housing Innovation Funds are primarily doing religious-site conversions.

Note: this plot is interactive. Look at the icons on the top right of each plot to enable different interactive actions, such as scrolling in or zooming. Hover over the bars to see more details about the funding amounts and programs.

Status of Affordable Housing Projects

The majority of these affordable units are not yet completed. Unfortunately expected completion dates are not provided in the data.

How are these repairs addressing repair backlogs?

According to CMHC’s 2023 Social and Affordable Housing Survey, there was an estimated 100,429 community housing units in Ontario that were in poor condition, and 31,462 units that were in fair condition.

The 100,429 estimated units in poor condition align closely to the 100,958 affordable units funded for repairs in Ontario. All repairs funding, including non-affordable units, has been allocated to municipalities, non-profits, coops, or indigenous organizations.

Note: CMHC indicates that the majority of their building condition estimates are of low confidence, with the exception of units in poor condition, which was given a score of “good”. They include further building condition estimates, including breakdown by urban centres, but the data quality was flagged as too poor to use, so for that reason those interesting data points are not assessed here.

Who receives what proportion of funding in Ontario?

Community housing organizations receive approximately 20.5% of all funding through the NHS, and presumably receive a significant amount more indirectly that flow through municipalities and other government recipients.

Other (primarily private developers) have received over 50% of NHS funds allocated to Ontario so far, however they receive almost exclusively low-cost loans.

Ontario community housing providers have received 880 million dollars in contribution so far, and 2.8 billion dollars if we presume other government recipients are investing primarily in community housing.