HALDIMAND—Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis recently sounded an alarm about the impact of infrastructure shortages on housing construction in the Haldimand-Norfolk riding during a meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
According to a release from Lewis, local communities are facing struggles moving forward with housing developments due to a lack of needed basic infrastructure, such as water and wastewater capacity.
“Municipalities across Canada are being encouraged to approve housing, but many communities simply do not have the infrastructure capacity to support that growth,” said Lewis in the release. “In Haldimand-Norfolk, we are seeing developments stalled because water and wastewater infrastructure is not available. That raises important questions about whether federal programs are keeping pace with the infrastructure needed to actually get homes built.”
The Press spoke with Lewis and County representative Kyra Hayes for a deeper look at the issue.
Lewis said, “The concern I raised is that communities are being encouraged to take on more housing growth while the infrastructure needed to support that growth is often not in place. That creates frustration for residents, uncertainty for municipalities, and delays for families hoping to find a home.”
She listed neighbouring Port Dover as a clear example of her concerns.
“Norfolk County has publicly acknowledged that development there was constrained by water treatment capacity, and the County has had to proceed with phased upgrades to expand both water and wastewater servicing before additional growth can move ahead,” said Lewis.
Closer to home, Lewis cited development hurdles in Nanticoke.
“Haldimand County’s own materials on the Empire proposal contemplated major new servicing, including a new wastewater treatment plant, and longer-term water and sewage infrastructure to support growth,” she said. “In other words, the scale of the proposal itself shows that housing growth is not just about approvals on paper; it depends on whether the physical systems are there to support a community.”
Lewis said she believes Empire Communities’ proposal to help cover infrastructure costs, including the development of a new treatment plant to service the area, should their proposed large-scale development go ahead, should be looked at “carefully and transparently.”
“On one hand, it reflects the reality that major growth proposals require major infrastructure investment,” said Lewis. “On the other hand, residents are right to ask important questions: who ultimately pays, who controls the long-term infrastructure, what assumptions are being made about future growth, and whether local planning is being driven by the public interest or by the scale of a single proposal. Any such arrangement has to be evaluated in a way that protects taxpayers, respects local democracy, and ensures that infrastructure decisions serve the broader community over the long term.”
The MP said she has spoken with thousands of residents in the riding about the issue, “and many of those who are opposed to large-scale development are raising a very practical concern: the infrastructure we have today is already not meeting the needs of existing communities.”
Lewis believes expanding development under those conditions could risk placing even greater pressure on limited resources that are already stretched.
“From that perspective, the concern is not about opposing growth for its own sake, but about ensuring that growth is responsible, sustainable, and supported by the infrastructure required to maintain a high quality of life for current and future residents,” she said. “It is not practical to pretend housing can move ahead without the infrastructure to support it.”
While she sees water and wastewater as the most obvious constraints, Lewis pointed out they are far from the only constraints.
“Growth also depends on roads, transportation connections, stormwater management, hydro capacity, schools, health services, and emergency services. If that infrastructure is missing or lagging, approvals alone do not create livable communities. They create pressure, conflict, and unrealistic expectations,” Lewis said.
Hayes noted that municipalities rely on a mix of predictable transfers, application-based grants, and cost-shared programs from both the federal and provincial governments when it comes to funding infrastructure.
“In recent years, municipalities across Ontario (including Haldimand) have expressed concern about the reliability of funding from other levels of government,” said Hayes.
Annually, Haldimand County relies on the Canada Community Building Fund (CCBF) to offset the costs of building essential infrastructure like roads, bridges, water and wastewater systems. It also receives annual funding from the provincial Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) to enhance infrastructure and rehabilitate existing assets.
“There are application-based infrastructure grants offered by federal and provincial governments; however, they are not guaranteed, and there is significant competition amongst municipalities to secure these limited funds. Long-term funding still falls short of infrastructure needs across the province,” noted Hayes.
Looking at the next 25 years of growth, with Haldimand’s population expected to reach 82,700 by 2051, County staff updates their Master Servicing Plans on a regular basis for all five of Haldimand’s urban centres, including servicing capacity needs for water, wastewater, stormwater, and transportation. The process includes opportunities for feedback from the public, stakeholders, review agencies, and local First Nations communities.
Hayes highlighted the construction of Jim Gregory Drive, a 400m long roadway that will service the in-development affordable housing project on Ramsey Drive, as an example of a current infrastructure project that will also unlock development lands nearby for additional housing, and eventually service the future Dunnville Fire and EMS station that is proposed to be located in the area.
For this project, $718,750 in funding came from the Ministry of Infrastructure’s Housing-Enabling Core Servicing (HECS) stream of the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program (MHIP).
Lewis hopes to see a more coordinated commitment from the federal government linking housing objectives with enabling infrastructure.
“Too often, governments set housing targets or encourage approvals, but the water, wastewater, and related infrastructure required to support those homes is funded through separate channels and on a much slower timeline,” she said. “Federal support should focus on the core infrastructure that unlocks responsible growth: water, wastewater, stormwater, roads, and grid capacity. Those are the foundations without which housing targets remain aspirational.”
Haldimand’s current infrastructure-related projects, from culvert and bridge rehabilitations to road reconstruction, are laid out in the annual capital budget and planned for in the 10-year capital forecast, which Hayes noted is developed to anticipate infrastructure needs over the long-term and ensure funds are available for major projects.
More specific information on projects slated for 2026 can be found at haldimandcounty.ca/construction.
