Premier Doug Ford is offering a portion of his government's $1.2-billion three-year Building Faster Fund to rural and small municipalities that have not been assigned a target to build homes.
Ford opened the possibility to delegates at this year's Rural Municipalities of Ontario Association conference.
Ten percent, or $120-million, will be earmarked for those communities to build infrastructure like roads and sewers to service new homes.
"We will soon set up an application-based process that will allow municipalities which have not been assigned housing targets to access the Building Faster Fund," said Ford on Monday.
Ford told delegates a long list of cities and towns assigned targets have already met or exceeded them, including Chatham-Kent and Sarnia. The province will roll out funding for those municipalities soon.
Other municipalities haven't been able to meet those targets, and Ford is not unsympathetic.
"I know that in many cases, and I hear this all the time, a lack of infrastructure is partly to be blamed," he said. "Our government will take unused funds from the Building Faster Fund and make them available for housing-enabling infrastructure investments that all municipalities can apply for."
Ford called on the federal government to match those dollars.
Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma said starting January 29, municipal governments can apply for funding through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to pay for municipal water projects. Over three years, $200-million will be available to repair, rehabilitate, and expand drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.
"Programs such as this are proof that our government is making targeted investments to build critical infrastructure in communities, which will unlock housing and support our growing population," said Surma.
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Lisa Thompson told delegates consultations will soon start to develop a Rural Economic Development Strategy to improve economic conditions and create jobs.