Tories detail $23.5M for downtown sewer upgrades to serve new homes

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The provincial government is spending $23.5 million in order to help bolster London’s sewer capacity to add more homes, Premier Doug Ford announced during a Monday visit to the city.

Ontario’s top politician unveiled the funding as one of the first projects under the newly unveiled Housing-Enabling-Water Systems program, which has a total of $970 million in its coffers amid a Queen’s Park push to speed up home construction provincewide.

The local funding is destined for the city’s downtown sewer expansion, which will replace 175 metres of sewer under the Thames River and allow for additional capacity of more than 17,500 homes.

“It’s going to support London’s growing population and the economic growth taking place across the region,” Ford said. “It’s so important that we get shovels in the ground for new homes in every part of our province.”

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The sewer expansion project was recently described in council chambers, as city staff cautioned politicians to endorse a set of towers, 45 and 40 storeys at 267 York St., with the caveat to wait until more sewer work was done to add capacity.

City hall’s water/sewer director, Ashley Rammeloo, said the section being replaced is nearly a century old.

“We were already planning to replace this, simply for its age, and then, as we’ve seen, the housing needs grow — then we transition this into a growth project,” she said.

As a simple replacement project, it was originally going to be entirely funded by the city, but now the province will pick up just under three quarters of the $32.5-million tab, Rammeloo adds.

London’s explosive population growth in recent years, nearly 10 per cent between 2016 and 2021, was a focus as the province unveiled the funding.

“Mayor (Josh) Morgan, we’re going to keep working with you and all the mayors and councils across this province to build the housing enabling infrastructure you need to meet and exceed your housing targets,” Ford said.

Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma also unveiled that the province will add another $250 million of funding to the systems program, which will open for applications in November.

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Monday, Morgan re-affirmed the city’s commitment to Ontario’s goal of building 1.5 million new homes, of which London’s share is 47,000. Referencing recent statistics for housing approvals since 2022, including a doubling so far this year over last, he emphasized the need for infrastructure to service the homes.

“Our council has been doing everything that it possibly can this year to ensure that we’re ramping up approvals in the city,” Morgan said. “London is certainly a city on the move, and that’s thanks the incredible partnership we have with the Province of Ontario.”

London missed its housing targets last year, which would have unlocked a share of $1.2 billion of funding from the province. City council argued the evaluation is unfair, as the targets measure how many units were started, as opposed to how many units were approved by politicians.

The metric was a pain point for cities that missed targets due to economic conditions, and said it should be measured based on elements within the city’s control, like council approval or building permits issued.

Ford called London’s progress in approving units “spectacular,” but stopped short of promising a rejig of measured progress.

“I’m confident that they’ll be hitting their targets, and we’ll help them any way we can,” he said. “Another big part of it, to be fair to the mayor and other mayors around the region, is the infrastructure.

“How can you build homes if you don’t have the proper water, wastewater, sewer systems needed to build the homes?”

jmoulton@postmedia.com
@jackmoulton65

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