Four Northern Ontario municipalities are receiving a total of $3.4 million through the province’s Building Faster Fund for beating their 2024 housing-construction targets.

The province made the announcements last week.

The City of Greater Sudbury will receive the largest share of the funding at $1.52 million.

The city broke ground on 840 new homes in 2024, which works out to 265 percent of its 2024 housing target.

“We are grateful to the Ontario government for recognizing our progress and supporting our efforts to build more housing in Greater Sudbury through the Building Faster Fund,” said Mayor Paul Lefebvre. “By nearly tripling our 2024 housing target, we’ve demonstrated the impact of strong partnerships and a shared commitment to getting more homes built. This funding will allow City Council to further invest in strategic projects that accelerate housing growth and help build a stronger, more livable Greater Sudbury for everyone.”

The City of Thunder Bay, meanwhile, earned $880,000. It broke ground on 262 new homes in 2024, achieving 143 percent of its provincial housing target.

The cities of Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay, meanwhile, receive $600,000 and $400,000 respectively.

Sault Ste. Marie broke ground on 189 new homes in 2024, which works out to 151 per cent of its 2024 target, while North Bay broke ground on 398 new homes, or 480 percent of its 2024 target.

The cities will use the additional funding from the province to build more homes and community infrastructure.

Announced in August 2023, the Building Faster Fund is a three-year, $1.2 billion program that is designed to encourage municipalities to speed up approval processes and get more homes built faster. The fund rewards municipalities that make significant progress against their targets by providing funding for housing-enabling and community-enabling infrastructure.

For the first six months of this year, Ontario saw 9,125 rental starts, an increase of 26.5 percent compared to the same period in 2024. After 2023, this is the second-highest level of rental starts on record for this time of the year.

To help make way for more housing opportunities and support growing communities, the government is giving municipalities more time to spend funds awarded through the Building Faster Fund, extending the deadline to 2028.