Sunshine streams through the windows of the community room at the newly constructed affordable rental building in downtown Hamilton.
Run by the city’s social housing provider, CityHousing Hamilton, the six storeys will soon be filled with dozens of tenants who can’t afford market rent.
It’s here, at 106 Bay St. N., where housing secretariat director Justin Lewis recently described the city’s 2025 plans aimed at helping ease the housing crisis.
If this past year was about laying the foundation to see more homes built faster, the coming years will be about breaking ground, Lewis told CBC Hamilton.
He expects construction to begin on 42 affordable and supportive housing projects between 2025 through 2027 — totalling over 2,500 units.
“That’s my biggest excitement,” he said.
The housing secretariat was created in 2023 to co-ordinate a multi-department effort to build, acquire and preserve housing across Hamilton, with a particular emphasis on building affordable and supportive units, Lewis said.
“When I started this position, I would get emails from not-for-profit and charitable organizations saying, ‘We have plans, we have proposals, we need help,'” Lewis said.
Getting ‘projects going’ a priority
That led the division to create the affordable housing project stream, where the city assists eligible organizations to get funding from all levels of government, he said.
The main driver is, “How can we unlock those funds and get these projects going?” said Lewis.
This project stream now supports the 42 projects, which are mainly focused on housing people who have experienced chronic homelessness and lived in encampments.
An example of what’s to come is St. Matthew’s House’s 15-unit modular building at 412 Barton St. E., which will be ready for Indigenous and Black seniors in March, executive director Renée Wetselaar told councillors in November.
The “deeply affordable” housing project began years ago when the previous building began “falling down” and the charity decided to create housing there instead, she said.
With the housing secretariat up and running, Wetselaar said more projects to create housing on underused land will be possible.
“We can have hope,” she said. “I think we can start thinking of these problems as opportunities.”
Hamilton looks at Toronto financing model
In 2025, the housing secretariat will also look into how the city can help non-profit organizations buy private rental buildings at risk of being sold, Lewis said.
Called the finance and acquisition strategy, it’s “very near and dear to my heart,” he said.
This initiative is driven by the fact that between 2011 and 2021, Hamilton lost over 16,000 units that rented for below $750 a month, said a report prepared for council. That happened as tenants moved out, were evicted or renovicted and the units were rented for more money.
Lewis said the city will also consider a social debenture plan or municipal bond program, where investors, through financial institutions, can invest in new housing units or shelter spaces.
In 2020, Toronto was the first city in Canada to launch a social debenture program that has generated millions of dollars in proceeds since, according to its website. The money has been spent on affordable housing, as well as transit, neighbourhood and climate change projects.
