The City of Burlington says it has received the third instalment of the $21 million it will receive from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).

The city says the $5.29-million instalment will help ongoing efforts to accelerate housing supply to meet the required HAF total growth target of 2,724 new units permitted by the end of 2026. Burlington permitted 1,664 of those units by the end of 2025.

The funding will help advance initiatives that support more housing starts in Burlington and support growth that is thoughtful and add density in a way that is compatible with surrounding development.

As part of its HAF funding agreement and action plan, the city has established seven initiatives and associated milestones focused on identifying a range of policy, process and program changes to accelerate housing approvals and support new housing supply.

All seven have now been completed and are actively being implemented. They include:

• simplifying processes to make it faster and more predictable to get an application approved and improve customer experience,
• approving policies to enable intensification around Burlington’s three GO Transit stations,
• increasing “as-of-right” permissions for additional residential units (ARUs) and reduce parking requirements,
• launching an affordable rental housing community improvement plan to encourage the development of new rental and affordable housing,
• launching the online Housing Connections Centre through which the public housing resources, programs and contacts,
• launching an incentive program to support homeowners in creating new affordable rental housing, and
• acquiring land for future affordable housing development.

Further, the city launched an ARU look-up tool, allowing homeowners to check whether their property is eligible for an ARU, and a Garage Conversion Toolkit, which provides illustrations and guidance for converting an existing garage into a legal residential unit. The city also initiated a review of development application fees to support housing delivery.

“Together with our federal partners, we're making progress on creating more affordable housing for our residents,” said Mayor Marianne Meed Ward. “With federal funding, we have accelerated housing supply, with more than 1,600 units already permitted, while also ensuring that development aligns with our community's values and vision for the future - with affordable housing at the right scale in the right location.”

The city says the third funding instalment will support the implementation of ongoing initiatives and help the city make any needed additional policy and zoning changes, further streamline planning and permitting processes, and ensure its efforts translate into an overall increase in housing supply in the city.

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