Blake Richards expresses hope and concerns over federal funding

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Banff-Airdrie, Blake Richards, expressed his views on the recently disclosed federal housing funding for Airdrie.

The City of Airdrie will be receiving over$24.8 million of federal funding. The agreement between the Government of Canada and the City of Airdrie is under the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), which is aimed to, 'eliminate barriers to building the housing we need, faster.'

While happy to see federal funding for Airdrie being announced, Richards does have concerns about whether the city will actually receive all the funding.

"What we've seen from the Trudeau government, typically with housing announcements, is we get a photo op, and then we never see any housing built. Hopefully, this is not the case."

According to Richards, fewer houses are being built in Canada now, than back in 1972. Richards does attribute the lack of homes being built to the current federal government.

Richards did want to commend the City of Airdrie for how hard they work when it comes to finding grants that can help out the community.

"As the local MP, it's great to see investments within Airdrie from the provincial or federal level. We're always there ready to work with the city on those sorts of things."

With all this being said, Richards did mention you don't normally see funding from the current federal government, so it makes him wonder if we could possibly see a federal election in the near future.

"Usually when the Trudeau government acknowledges that Alberta exists, it's to try and do something to hurt us. So, when that's not the case, it's certainly a positive."

Airdrie is one of several Alberta cities to see major federal funding as part of the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF). Last month, it was announced that the Towns of Banff, Sylvan Lake, Bow Island, Westlock, Smoky Lake and the Village of Duchess had all reached agreements to fast-track a combined total of over 400 homes over the next three years. 

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