Brantford has a new long-range plan to tackle housing affordability and homelessness after city council approved the Brantford-Brant Housing Stability Plan for 2025-2035 at its June 23 meeting. The roadmap shifts from emergency responses toward lasting fixes, setting out five priorities aimed at reducing homelessness, protecting renters, and boosting the number of affordable homes over the next ten years.
Mayor Kevin Davis said the plan pulls together what residents have been asking for and what research shows actually works. “Homelessness is a complex challenge that takes significant resources to manage, but the progress we’ve made since 2019 shows that coordinated, evidence-based action gets results,” he said.
The strategy was shaped by input from 1,800 survey respondents, 300 focus group participants, and 60 in-depth interviews, along with evidence from Wilfrid Laurier University. Its five goals are to drive homelessness toward Functional Zero, use a human rights-based approach for people living unsheltered, grow and maintain the affordable housing supply, deliver fair supports to those most in need, and tie the system together more effectively.
The plan arrives as renters face steep costs. Average rents in Brantford climbed 66 percent since 2016, rising from $932 to $1,549 in 2025. The vacancy rate has improved to 3.2 percent this year, up from 2.2 percent in 2024 and 1.9 percent in 2023, but demand still outpaces supply. Since 2019, the city has completed or started work on over 300 municipally developed housing units and more than 250 non-profit units, helping 928 families move off the centralized waitlist, which is now at its lowest point in a decade.
One key project is the Fox Ridge Community at 389 West Street. The site will become a housing hub, with Phase 1 opening emergency shelter space by October 2026, Phase 2 adding transitional and supportive housing by the end of 2028, and Phase 3 delivering permanent affordable homes by the end of 2030.
Mayor David Bailey of the County of Brant stressed the partnership behind the effort. “The City of Brantford delivers social services on behalf of the County of Brant, and we recognize the work that went into developing this important plan for our communities,” he said. The plan still needs approval from Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and can be read at Brantford.ca/HousingStabilityPlan.
