Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken the wraps off a new "landmark" agreement to give London $74 million to build over 2,000 housing units over the next three years and thousands more in the years to follow.
The prime minister delivered the news Wednesday after touring a new affordable housing building being constructed at 345 Sylvan Street. Housing Minister Sean Fraser was also in attendance.
The deal is the first under the $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund, which was launched in March to fix outdated local policies like zoning in order to build more homes, faster.
"Housing is a solvable problem, and we're all going to solve it if we work together. Canada has done it before and we'll do it again," Trudeau said. "We're facing a shortage of housing. Right now. It's not fair to young people."
Trudeau also praised London Mayor Josh Morgan's leadership on the file.
"Of all the Mayors across the country, you were the fastest to step up - with a visionary proposal," said Trudeau. "We put out frame work of ambitious things we wanted to see from municipalities to access this funding."
"Based on Josh's success, I want to challenge other mayors right across the country to step up with their proposals."
Morgan hopes the announcement will impact London's housing supply quickly.
"It's going to allow us to consider a whole bunch of new initiatives over the next three years," Morgan told London News Today. "When we talk about downtown office to residential to conversions, that is something we included in our application as a possibility."
In order to receive the millions in federal funding, the City of London has agreed to allow for high-density development without the need for re-zoning. The city will also allow up to four units to be built on a single property in low-density neighbourhoods, dispose of city-owned land for more development, and create partnerships with non-profit housing providers to build more affordable homes.
According to the federal government, this will create more homes close to public transit, more student housing, and a wider type of houses from duplexes and triplexes to small apartment buildings.
However, the opposition was critical of the announcement.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner tweeted that Trudeau and Fraser "aren't unveiling any new programs, instead they're announcing London’s share of the previously announced Housing Accelerator Fund."
"This announcement feels like trying to put anything in the window ahead of their caucus meeting?," she added.
Trudeau was scheduled to spend the rest of the afternoon Wednesday at the Liberal National Caucus Retreat which is being held in London until Thursday.