This week City Council received the Housing Innovation Task Force report and approved a series of measures to help deal with Ottawa’s housing crisis.
The approved measures include things like:
- Streamlining rules and processes to make approvals faster
- Creating a more “housing-friendly” culture at City Hall
- Provide more flexibility, and in some cases reduce fees and charges
- More support for affordable housing
- Building more homes downtown as well as near transit
I want to share a couple of thoughts on the debate and discussion.
Human side of the housing crisis
We’ve been missing our provincial target for housing construction in recent years. In 2024, the City’s target was 12,583 housing starts but the actual number of housing starts in Ottawa was 7,871. So far in 2025 there’s a slight increase, but we’re still far below where we should be. The goal of the task force and the new measures that we approved is to juice those numbers.
But we need to remember the actual people who we need to create more homes for – not just whether or not we’re meeting the targets:
- Nurses, cleaners, dental assistants, skilled tradespeople who want to live close to where they work in Stittsville.
- Young people who want to buy their first home, and start a family.
- Single adults who would like to move out of their parent’s basement and not have to have multiple roommates.
- Newcomers who want to raise their kids in a good home and a safe neighbourhood.
- Single parents who want their kids to stay in the same school zone and close to friends.
- Seniors who want to stay in their community and downsize to something affordable.
Those are just a few examples of demographic groups who are struggling to find an affordable home or apartment in Stittsville because of a lack of supply. Housing affordability in Ottawa is in a dismal place right now. And it is affecting more and more residents, in different ways.
How friendly should Ottawa be to housing?
The other week, the Mayor stated a goal of making Ottawa “the most housing-friendly city in Canada”. I know that there are many Stittsville residents who would be quite happy to make Ottawa a bit less friendly to housing!
After all, more housing can mean more competition for a spot at swimming lessons; more traffic on the roads and busier buses; a need for more community infrastructure like schools, hospitals, doctors, and libraries. We are struggling to keep up.
The City of Ottawa – with a very strong push from the Provincial and Federal governments – is putting a greater priority on housing than anything else right now. Study after study is painting a stark picture of how far behind we are in housing supply, and it negatively affecting affordability and cost of living. It’s fair to say that all governments are putting housing first, even if it means some of the other services are not keeping pace with the growth.
With my City Council colleagues, we’ve been advocating for more financial tools to ensure that we can provide the infrastructure and services that communities need. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is advocating for a new Municipal Growth Framework to ensure healthy, equitable, and thriving communities. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario is also pushing the provincial government for changes that would provide more funding to cities.
Your voice can make a difference too. I encourage residents to call or email their MP and MPP and ask two question:
- How is your government addressing the housing crisis?
- And how will your government help fund cities so that they can support population growth with the required infrastructure and community services?
How is the housing crisis affecting you and your family? Send me an email at glen.gower@ottawa.ca – I would like to hear from you.
