The Federation of Canadian Municipalities recently estimated that the average cost across the country to supply infrastructure for new housing, like roads, water and sewer, parks, amenities and emergency services is about $107,000 per home. That’s why the FCM is urging the federal government to consider infrastructure funding support in this year’s budget.

Chair of the Big City Mayors Caucus, Mike Savage, explains that while municipalities are working to get housing built, they own and maintain most of the infrastructure that Canadians rely on every day, yet they only collect between 8 and 12 cents out of every tax dollar, so what’s left is about $100,000 dollars after property taxes are paid. He suggests, that’s where other levels of government can help out. The FCM urges the federal and provincial governments to keep municipalities in mind as their annual budgets are being prepared, taking into consideration that the only way to fix the housing shortage is to have more homes.

FCM President Scott Pearce says municipalities need to be able to rely on programs such as the Canada Community Building Fund, which support growth and the rehabilitation of existing neighbourhoods. He adds, “We tend to take infrastructure for granted because most of us only think about it when it’s not working. We expect our first responders to show up when there’s a crisis, our local recreation centre to have space for kids to play, and our bus to get us to work on time, but this critical infrastructure and these services cost money and and municipalities can’t be expected to keep raising property taxes to pay for them.”