1.7K 
Premier Doug Ford announced today at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa to committing an additional $1.6 billion to the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP), bringing its total value to $4 billion. The move, framed as both a response to economic pressures from U.S. tariffs and a step toward meeting Ontario’s housing needs, is intended to accelerate the delivery of homes by equipping municipalities and Indigenous communities with the resources to expand essential infrastructure.
Launched in 2024, the program has been linked to the delivery of roughly 800,000 homes across the province. This injection follows $400 million added in the 2025 budget and complements the $1.2 billion Building Faster Fund, which incentivizes municipalities that hit or exceed their housing targets.
“We’re making record investments in housing and infrastructure so we can keep workers on the job and help families across the province find a home that meets their needs and their budgets,” said the Premier.
The expanded program directs funding toward local infrastructure required for large-scale housing delivery. Funding will be available to municipalities and Indigenous communities for projects ranging from road and bridge upgrades to drinking water and wastewater systems. The province aims to remove bottlenecks that have slowed housing projects in fast-growing areas.
“In the face of unwarranted U.S. tariffs,” stated Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure, “our government is doubling down on our plan to build and investing more than $200 billion through our capital plan to protect Ontario.”
The program’s expansion follows legislative changes introduced earlier this year under the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025, which seeks to streamline approvals and cut costs for housing projects. Among its measures are standardized development charges, province-wide construction standards, faster approvals for transit-oriented housing, and extending expedited transit-building provisions to all provincial projects. Consultations planned for later this year will also explore harmonizing road-building standards across Ontario’s 444 municipalities.
The MHIP is organized into four funding streams, each designed to address a specific set of growth-related needs. Through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, close to $1.7 billion has been directed toward projects that expand drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater capacity.
The Core Servicing stream provides $400 million for municipal road and bridge upgrades tied to as many as 160,000 homes, while the Health and Safety Water stream contributes $175 million for renewing aging systems and strengthening climate resilience. In Niagara and Leamington, the Agriculture and Irrigation stream funds irrigation and wastewater improvements aimed at supporting the province’s agri-food economy.
“Investments in municipal infrastructure have consistently proven to be the best way to protect local, provincial and national economies,” shared Robin Jones, President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and Mayor of Westport. “These investments will not just help to build homes, they will provide thousands of jobs in communities across the province and lay the foundation for long-term productivity.”
The MHIP expansion forms part of the Province's $200-billion capital plan, which covers a wide spectrum of growth and infrastructure priorities. More than $33 billion is being spent this year alone across sectors including transit, highways, hospitals, and schools, alongside the housing-enabling projects tied to MHIP.
* * *
UrbanToronto has a research service, UTPro, that provides comprehensive data on development projects in the Greater Golden Horseshoe — from proposal through to completion. We also offer Instant Reports, downloadable snapshots based on location, and a daily subscription newsletter, New Development Insider, that tracks projects from initial application.
