Nov. 28, 2025
CityHousing’s mandate is “guaranteed rent control,” CEO Adam Sweedland said. “We’re not going to be raising rents excessively on turnover.”
Cathie Coward/Spectator file photo
CityHousing Hamilton aims to add 900 homes to its portfolio over the next decade under a new development strategy.
The municipal housing provider plans to do that by renewing existing stock, hiking unit density at addresses, buying properties and redeveloping aging ones.
And rather than holding out for government funding before building, the idea is to move forward with projects and work to line up those dollars as they advance.
“We want to have as many shovel-ready projects as possible all the time so that when the funding does arise, we can be at the top of the list,” said development manager Peter Vander Klippe.
CityHousing officials presented a high-level summary of the 20-year strategy called Future Foundations to council Wednesday.
The strategy, which includes a 10-year “action plan,” is “a long time overdue,” said Coun. Nrinder Nann, who’s CityHousing president.
“It’s intentional, it’s strategic and it’s not reactive,” said Nann, noting council is privy to a more detailed, confidential version of the document.
Officials didn’t share examples of projects or provide dollar figures.
But chief portfolio officer Sean Botham noted a financial strategy is “mapped out” and he expects at least one proposal to be presented to council in the coming year.
CityHousing has roughly 7,000 units in Hamilton. That represents 19 per cent of the city’s rental homes and about 40 per cent of its purpose-built affordable stock, Botham said.
In recent years, the city’s social-housing provider has seen a flurry of developments come to fruition.
This year, it opened a 55-unit downtown on Bay Street North and two buildings with 82 units between them at the Queenston traffic circle.
In late 2024, it welcomed residents to a 24-unit supportive housing building on King William Street operated by non-profit Indwell.
And in 2023, CityHousing opened a new 103-unit building as part of a mixed-income redevelopment of a townhouse complex in partnership with private builders near the Red Hill Valley Parkway.
Many of Future Foundation’s 900 additional units are expected to have submarket rates, but not the deep affordability that CityHousing’s rent-geared-to-income (RGI) apartments offer.
Absent federal funding, “they’re not going to mimic RGI,” Botham said.
Nonetheless, CityHousing’s mandate is “guaranteed rent control,” CEO Adam Sweedland emphasized. “We’re not going to be raising rents excessively on turnover.”
The strategy is also rooted in mixed-income communities, an approach other non-profit housing operators have adopted to remain financially viable given the challenge of maintaining housing with extremely low rents.
“We’re trying to build for the future,” added Vander Klippe, noting a focus on energy-efficient buildings can lower costs. “We’ll be able to keep them affordable longer or easier with less investment going forward.”
In Hamilton, it makes sense to add “gentle density” to some properties, he said.
The introduction of Future Foundations overlaps with the delayed redevelopment of Jamesville, a vacant CityHousing townhouse complex, into a denser, mixed-income community through private partners.
The North End project is stalled amid a protracted dispute with CN Rail, which has appealed the proposal to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Earlier this year, CityHousing, with council’s support, asked the province for a minister’s zoning order (MZO) to override the tribunal impasse. That decision is pending.
CityHousing started vacating the townhouses as early as 2015, ahead of the 2019 partnership announcement to redevelop the site between James, Strachan, Ferrie and MacNab streets.
The new development strategy will avoid such a scenario, said Botham, noting the goal is to cause the least possible disruption to tenants.
“We’ve already adjusted course on how we’re handling things in that transition.”