Aug. 22, 2024 — West End Home Builders’ Association
In newly released data from the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC), so far this year, the City of Burlington has seen the second-highest total number of housing starts in the past decade. Between January and the end of July, Burlington has started construction on 546 new homes. With the construction of housing of all types slowing down across Ontario, Burlington seeing a significant rise in new housing starts during a time of economic headwinds is a testament to the city’s renewed focus and leadership on housing.
The city has adopted a housing pledge of building 29,000 units by 2031 as its share of the provincial goal to build 1.5 million homes over the next decade. The city also received $21 million dollars in housing accelerator fund money from the federal government to accelerate the construction of new homes in Burlington. Additionally, in May of 2024, City of Burlington council unanimously endorsed a city-wide reduction in development charges (taxes on new housing), in response to the housing crisis.
“The City of Burlington has shown they are serious about addressing the housing crisis by committing to a number of new initiatives designed to spur construction of new housing, including a reduction of development charges, enabling the use of surety bonds, and working towards the modernization of their zoning by-law.” said Mike Collins-Williams, CEO of the West End Home Builders’ Association. “The market for new condominium construction across Ontario is the worst it’s been in nearly three decades, so it is good to see that when a city like Burlington takes decisive action to reduce taxes on new housing, construction of new homes follows.”
Burlington’s leadership on the housing file is well-regarded by both the federal and provincial governments. Both the federal Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser, and provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Paul Calandra commended Burlington for their leadership at this year’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference. WE HBA is pleased to see Burlington continue to take the housing crisis seriously and work in partnership with the home-building industry to ensure Burlington is a place where everyone is welcome.
Burlington’s leadership builds on the recognition at all levels of government that new housing supply will significantly help to alleviate our housing crisis.
