A groundbreaking move for affordable housing in Kitchener
You probably have never noticed this small strip of grass, near the corner of Ottawa Street North and River Road, in Kitchener’s Stanley Park neighbourhood. I certainly haven’t.
It’s a two-acre rectangle, owned by the City of Kitchener, behind the fire station and a gas station.
But it’s a very important piece of real estate.
It’s the very first piece of municipally owned land being given over to affordable housing since the Build Now initiative, aiming to build 10,000 affordable homes in Waterloo Region on donated or public land, was announced nine months ago in Cambridge.
The land is worth about $5.5 million, said Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic at Thursday’s announcement, where he was surrounded by most of Kitchener council and top staff, and with local MPs and Habitat for Humanity officials in attendance.
And by late 2026, the hope is that 60 homes will be built there, some of them the three- and four-bedroom homes that families need, but that the market isn’t building right now. It’s hoped that the cost of these homes will be under $400,000.
“In Kitchener, we’re building a city for everyone,” said Vrbanovic. “We’re laying the foundation for a stronger, more resilient community.”
Next steps are that the site will be prepared with money from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. Development charges are waived for affordable housing.
Under the terms of the Build Now agreement, a developer will be chosen to build the project without taking a profit. The finished homes will be sold to the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity, which has a long history of providing homes to people who need them.
Some of the homes will be rented and others sold. Habitat will sell some homes directly to individuals and some to other non-profit groups, who in turn will rent the units at lower than market rents.
It’s a scrupulously fair process. With the units that are being sold, “flipping” them, or using them as investments, will be prohibited by agreements that are made at the time of sale. A person who buys a home at below market cost will be able to sell the home, but not for market prices.
The owner will be able to sell for the original price, plus whatever overall percentage increase there has been in the market. Habitat will have the right of first refusal to buy it back.
Asked about the land’s history, Vrbanovic said it had originally been planned to hold a branch of Kitchener Public Library and for a city community centre. But over time, different decisions were made for those amenities. The library ended up beside Grand River Collegiate Institute, while the community centre was built beside St. Daniel Catholic school. So the land sat vacant.
Kitchener has a history of giving land to help provide housing for vulnerable people, including supportive housing operated by YW Kitchener-Waterloo, and for the sanctioned encampment A Better Tent City.
Thursday’s announcement is groundbreaking in a different way.
Homes are needed for middle- and lower-income singles, couples and families, in part so that the people whose skills we need — think of health care professionals and skilled tradespeople — can actually afford to live here.
As housing experts have already pointed out, when these kinds of homes are built on public land, it’s possible to offer the homes according to the public good, and not the rules of the market.
Meanwhile, the City of Waterloo looks as if it will be following in Kitchener’s footsteps.
On Monday, councillors will be asked to approve moving forward on releasing a 10-hectare (25-acre) piece of city-owned land on University Avenue East, bound by Millennium Boulevard, Country Squire Lane, Country Squire Road, and the border with Woolwich Township. Up to 730 units of affordable or attainable housing could be built on the land, which is currently zoned for employment.
There’s a long way to go, and the staff report doesn’t mention the Build Now initiative.
But one thing is clear: The road out of the housing affordability crisis is paved with public land.