Growth in new home construction won't change Windsor's funding access, minister says
There were 693 housing starts in Windsor in the first half of 2024, according to data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. (Havard Gould/CBC)Canada's housing minister says a recent boom in housing starts in the Windsor area is "unabashedly good news" — but he still expects the city to get more ambitious in planning for growth if it wants to access federal Housing Accelerator funding to support new home construction.
Sean Fraser told CBC that several factors have contributed to recent growth in new home construction in Windsor, including lower interest rates and major projects in the city such as the Gordie Howe International Bridge and the Stellantis-LG Energy Solution EV battery plant.
The chair of the Windsor Essex Home Builders' Association said the numbers reflect optimism among developers over Windsor's future, rather than robust demand at the present time.
"The market-driven stuff that you're seeing is still pretty dry," said Brent Klundert, who also owns BK Cornerstone Design Build Ltd.
"We haven't seen a huge bump in sales, right? … Usually, the market does kind of drive the investment and the housing starts. In this case, what you're seeing I think is, you know, a bet on the Windsor market as a whole in the next couple of years and what's coming to the area."
Read the full article here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-housing-accelerator-funds-1.7274319
