Belleville awarded more than $1.2 million through Ontario’s Building Faster Fund

The City of Belleville has been awarded $1.24 million from Ontario’s Building Faster Fund.

The announcement was made at Belleville City Hall in Council Chambers on Wednesday.

“Mayor (Neil Ellis) and his team here in Belleville did a great job, 35 percent increase above their target housing target, 418 new homes in the last year, which added up to 1.24 million dollars for the City of Belleville for needed housing enabling infrastructure, roads, sewers, water, whatever needed to get more homes built and built faster for Belleville.” Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack tells Quinte News after the announcement.

It is the third straight year that the City of Belleville received funding from the Building Faster Fund.

Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp was also on hand for the announcement and welcomed the news.

“Keeping that dream of home ownership alive matters,” MPP Allsopp said in a speech.

“It matters to young people. It matters to seniors, and it matters for economic development as well because we have jobs available, but we don’t have places to put them. So we need to make sure that those homes continue to be built. I’m so happy to be here today to celebrate the fact that Belleville has once again hit their target and absolutely blew it out of the water by 35 percent”

The Building Faster Fund is a three-year, up to $1.2 billion program that the province says will help municipalities build more homes faster.

According to a release from the Ontario government, the fund rewards municipalities that make significant progress toward their housing targets by providing funding for the infrastructure needed to support new housing and growing communities.

The Fund was announced back in August 2023.