City planning staff expect Ottawa will fall far short of provincial housing targets this year, and they’re already assuming it will cost the city tens of millions of dollars in lost funding.

That revelation came Wednesday as council’s planning and housing committee debated the 2026 draft municipal budget , which doesn’t include any revenue from the province’s Building Faster Fund (BFF).

The fund requires cities to meet at least 80 per cent of targets for housing starts. Last year Ottawa fell short, reaching only 62.5 per cent of the 12,500 homes required, and the province didn’t pay out any money.

This year, the city is doing better. The latest Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data shows starts were above 7,900 as of the end of October, or 22 per cent higher than the same time

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