Ontario is having trouble giving money away for housing, but challenging times are making it hard to get.

As Premier Doug Ford presented Toronto with a $67.2 million cheque to help build new homes amid a shortage that has pushed prices higher, his housing minister lamented more municipalities aren’t meeting the housing targets entitling them to cash.

“We’re going to hand out some nice ‘building faster fund’ cheques, not as many and for as much this year as we did last year,” Rob Flack said Friday at city hall with Mayor Olivia Chow.

Toronto broke ground on 21,000 new homes last year, 88 per cent of its target.

“That’s why we have the big cheque,” said Chow, who noted “building is slowing” because of high interest rates, and higher costs that mean “builders just can’t afford to build.”

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