Nov. 15, 2025
Justin Lewis, director of Hamilton’s housing secretariat.
Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator file photo
Hamilton’s housing secretariat has earmarked $58.4 million for 30 projects in a three-year investment plan expected to deliver 2,100 units.
Of those, 1,455 will be affordable, 511 supportive and 138 “attainable,” or lower-market units, division director Justin Lewis noted in a presentation to council this week.
In another approach, the city is also making 10 pieces of municipal land available for housing projects in 2026, Lewis said.
“There’s a lot coming.”
That includes Habitat for Humanity’s pitch for 200 affordable condos on city land and coalition Hamilton is Home’s proposal for a 2,200-unit mixed-income community, also on yet-to-be-determined municipal property.
Lewis’s presentation marks the third annual report for the division that’s tasked with evaluating project applications for government funding and co-ordinating Hamilton’s collective housing efforts through one office.
A key function is to provide so-called municipal “skin in the game,” support for projects that non-profits need to line up more funding from senior levels of government under the auspices of a “road map” approved in 2023.
That road map “is working,” Coun. Brad Clark said Wednesday. “You’re seeing the results and we know what’s coming and all of that is incredibly positive.”
Last term, Hamilton is Home announced a goal to build 3,000 affordable units in three years, Coun. Nrinder Nann noted.
For some at the time, that seemed like a stretch, but with 2,100 units on the horizon, “we’re well on that path,” Nann said.
This past summer, CityHousing opened two buildings at the Queenston traffic circle with 82 apartments between them.
Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator file photo
This year, a few affordable projects opened their doors (or soon will) to new residents:
CityHousing’s 55-unit building on Bay Street North;
CityHousing’s two buildings, 82 units, at the Queenston traffic circle;
St. Matthew’s 15-unit supportive housing building on Barton Street East.
Several projects have broken ground this year:
Victoria Park Community Homes’ 261 affordable units on Caledon Avenue;
Indwell’s Acorn Flats, 23 units for families on Robert Street;
Luso Canadian Charitable Society’s 30-unit residence for people with disabilities on Main Street East;
Sacajawea Non-Profit Housing’s 40 supportive units for Indigenous people on Gage Avenue North;
Kiwanis’s 55-unit project for low-income older adults on Barton Street East.
The secretariat’s efforts advance as more than 6,000 households face years-long waits for subsidized rentals in Hamilton.
Meanwhile, the homelessness crisis continues to worsen, Michelle Baird, director of housing services, told council.
Roughly 2,000 people are without housing in Hamilton, and of those, 318 are living on the street, Baird noted.
That’s up from the last figure of 165, making for a real increase in unsheltered people, but the spike is also attributed to better data collection, she said.
“What we’re seeing today really is the impacts of low income,” said Baird, who noted low social-assistance rates is a driver of homelessness.
In response, the city opened 272 new temporary shelter spaces and is working “upstream” to prevent people from losing their housing in the first place.