Heather Wright/The Independent

Petrolia is hoping the second time will be a charm.

The town will again apply for the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund. The federal program was announced early in 2024 and early this summer Petrolia and Plympton-Wyoming and Warwick were shut out of funding which would have allowed the municipalities to attract more affordable housing investment in the communities. The bulk of the money went to large cities like London and Toronto.

There was $4 billion in funding on the table.

But Petrolia CAO Rick Charlebois believes the town may have played a role in getting the feds to provide more cash.

“Our mayor and deputy mayor met with the MP Peter Fragiskatos, the federal Parliamentary Secretary of Housing, along with two other local mayors to strongly recommend a second round of HAF be announced that focused on smaller municipalities that can produce a significant number of new homes to help meet our national housing crisis,” he wrote.

The federal government has a second round of funding coming out and only communities which have already applied will be considered.

Petrolia council gave staff permission Monday to apply again for the grants.