Hamilton Plans to Accelerate Housing with $17.8 Million Investment

Over the next three years, the City of Hamilton will commit significant capital toward expanding its affordable and supportive housing supply, with approximately 1,200 new units expected by 2027. Backed by structured municipal funding and a project evaluation framework that emphasizes construction readiness, the initiative introduces new supply across a range of unit types and tenures.

Multi-Year Investment Strategy

The City plans to invest $17.8 million in 2025, drawn from surplus 2024 funds and the approved 2025 municipal budget. This funding will go toward eight projects, generating 147 affordable and 25 supportive housing units. This is part of a broader three-year commitment, built into the 2024 tax budget, which earmarks $4 million annually for affordable housing and $10.3 million annually for supportive housing.

From this longer-term allocation, $8.2 million was disbursed in January 2025 to support 11 projects that will add 440 affordable units and 435 supportive units. These selections were prioritized based on financial viability, community need, and development readiness – criteria that indicate the City’s focus on shovel-ready and financially sustainable construction. The HSIR also emphasizes the importance of partnerships with community organizations and alignment with broader city strategies.

A further $15 million is projected for 2026, with two new projects anticipated to yield an additional 105 affordable and 51 supportive units.

Long-Term Supply Targets and Development Pipeline

Through the Housing Sustainability and Investment Roadmap (HSIR), Hamilton expects to bring 21 projects to market between now and 2027, resulting in 692 affordable rental or ownership units and 511 supportive units. Many of these projects are currently in varying phases of, pre-construction, active buildout, or final delivery—with funding allocated accordingly to de-risk and accelerate progress.

In 2025 alone, 261 rental units will begin construction with funding support to enhance affordability. Another 10 units will be part of affordable homeownership programming, a smaller but notable addition that reflects a mixed-tenure housing strategy.

Planning Integration and Institutional Structure

The investment framework aligns with Hamilton’s broader policy architecture, including the Housing and Homelessness Action Plan, the Housing Sustainability & Investment Roadmap, and the City Council’s 2022–2026 strategic priority to expand housing supply and reduce chronic homelessness. The Affordable Housing Development Project Stream, jointly developed by the Housing Secretariat Division and the Planning & Economic Development Department, formalizes the process for funding allocations.

These efforts recently earned national recognition; in March 2025, the City was acknowledged by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing for “Knowledge to Action,” specifically for its HSIR framework. The award highlighted Hamilton’s data-driven, outcomes-oriented approach to housing policy and implementation.

Projects funded through this initiative are positioned for rapid advancement, suggesting increased near-term activity in the residential development sector, especially for builders, suppliers, and service providers operating within the affordable housing segment.