The Ontario government has provided funding of $5.2 million to the City of Windsor for exceeding provincially designated housing targets last year.

Windsor broke ground on 2,306 new homes in 2024, achieving 213 percent of its 2024 housing target.

The funding, which comes from the province’s Building faster Fund, will help the city build more homes and community infrastructure while advancing the province’s plan to protect Ontario by investing in infrastructure to support economic growth and keep workers on the job.

“Mayor Dilkens and the City of Windsor have done an incredible job supporting new home construction and getting shovels in the ground,” said Premier Doug Ford. “Today’s investment is a reflection of that hard work and is just the latest step we are taking to protect workers and communities by supporting continued growth and keeping the dream of homeownership alive in Windsor and across Ontario.”

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 municipal approval processes and get more homes built faster. The fund awards municipalities that make significant progress against their targets by providing funding for housing-enabling and community-enabling infrastructure. The province is also providing record funding to support housing-enabling infrastructure, including through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program.

“Windsor has been identified as one of the most important and fastest growing communities to watch in Ontario and Canada,” said Drew Dilkens, Mayor of Windsor. “As we continue to focus on investment, growth and sustainability, Windsor has been a leader in removing red tape, repurposing City-owned land to promote development and significantly exceeding our housing targets to support housing options and developments in our community. We thank Premier Ford, Minister Flack, MPP Dowie and the province for working to protect Ontario and for this latest major investment in building Windsor’s future.”

The Ontario government is also helping to speed up the construction of new homes and infrastructure, including by streamlining development processes and reducing costs in close partnership with municipalities, through its Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025.

From January to June 2025, Ontario saw 9,125 rental starts, an increase of 26.5 per cent 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.