Every month, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation releases municipal-level data on housing starts, completions, and units under construction. At 132 per cent, Brantford had the highest percentage of housing starts in May 2023. The City’s monthly target was 83 units; however, 110 units were started, and 62 completions were recorded.
In February 2023, Brantford City Council endorsed a ‘Municipal Housing Pledge’ demonstrating the City’s commitment to accelerating our housing supply by achieving the provincial housing target requiring an average of 1,000 new housing units per year in Brantford. The Pledge supports the Province’s broader goal of adding 1.5 million homes in Ontario over ten years, as outlined in More Homes, Built Faster: Ontario’s Housing Supply Action Plan 2022–2023.
In 2022, a total of 1,482 housing units were issued building permits by the City and as of June 2023 the City has issued 395 permits. The City’s Planning Services team has been successfully setting the stage for the city’s future growth and supporting the development of new housing through several initiatives including:
The City’s new Official Plan approved by the Province in August 2021, that enables a broad range of housing types including residential intensification within built-up areas and new greenfield development in an expanded Settlement Area.
Updating the City’s Transportation Master Plan and Master Servicing Plan in 2021 to align with the new Official Plan, which identifies key infrastructure requirements and capital projects, such as a new water tower in the north end of the City that will facilitate growth.
The New Zoning By-law Project anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023, that will modernize regulations to support new forms of development.
The pending launch of a new digital Development Application Process in fall 2023 featuring a new online application and e-permitting software tool to expedite the application process.
While a majority of the new housing units will be built by the private sector construction industry, municipalities play a key role in the supply of housing through enabling land use policies, providing a clear and efficient development approvals process, planning for infrastructure required to service growth and expediting development of municipally owned affordable housing options.
In 2021, City of Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis and County of Brant Mayor David Bailey convened the Mayors’ Housing Partnerships Task Force, with the goal to build partnerships to create more housing options in the community faster by working together to discover unique opportunities, and, make development easier.
In the last three years, the City has significantly increased their affordable housing supply by expediting the completion of the Marlene Ave – Home for Good Housing Development, the CASE Home Demonstration Project, the new affordable housing development at 177 Colborne St. W., the repurposing of previous post-secondary student residences at Lucy Marco Place (36-40 Queen St.) to affordable housing, and the creation of a new affordable housing build at 174 Trillium Way in Paris, Brant that will be occupied by singles, couples, small families, and seniors within the City of Brantford and the County of Brant.
“I am very proud of City Council’s commitment and the incredible work done to date by our exemplary Planning and Housing staff to meet our provincial housing target,” said Kevin Davis, Mayor for the City of Brantford. “We remain focused on attracting and building more diverse housing options in Brantford so that all of our citizens have the opportunity to secure stable housing.”
