A coalition of local non-profits wants city council to recommit to annual funding for supportive and affordable housing as it vies for federal dollars to build thousands of homes in Hamilton.
Support from the city is seen as crucial “skin in the game” to land funding from senior levels of government, a tenet that led council to agree to set aside $31 million over three years starting in 2024.
All of that supportive-housing funding, $10.3 million a year, has been allocated to 11 projects with roughly 500 units between them, city staff confirmed in an email Friday.
So far, the city funding has “unlocked” more than $100 million from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Graham Cubitt, chair of Hamilton is Home, told The Spectator.
“It helps us keep moving the momentum forward,” Graham Cubitt, chair of Hamilton is Home, says of the importance of the city following through with annual funding for affordable and supportive housing.
As such, the coalition has urged city politicians to keep flowing $10.3 million each year to reserves for the housing secretariat, a new municipal division this council term, to allocate to non-profit projects.
“It helps us keep moving the momentum forward,” said Cubitt, who is also director of projects and development with Indwell, which specializes in deeply affordable and supportive housing.
A renewed city commitment would provide “key early-stage funding” to ready projects for federal funding, Hamilton is Home wrote in a letter to Mayor Andrea Horwath and council as they tucked into 2026 budget talks.
In addition to the $31 million, a separate $4-million-a-year reserve fund will be fully committed to affordable-housing projects through 2026.
Like the coalition, staff also want to maintain “momentum” on affordable housing, Grace Mater, general manager of healthy and safe communities, said in an interview.
But the time for council to extend the $10.3 million for supportive housing would be during 2027 budget deliberations, Mater suggested.
That, however, would leave the decision to a potentially new batch of city politicians with the term drawing to a close ahead of the October election.
When asked Friday about the coalition’s letter, councillors told The Spectator they hadn’t read it or hadn’t considered the process to continue the funding.
Mayor Andrea Horwath’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The coalition’s letter comes as city politicians debate Horwath’s “hold-the-line” budget, which strives for a 4.25 per cent hike, a goal that has spurred spirited debate over potential cuts.
Housing and homelessness, meanwhile, remains a significant cost-driver in the mayor’s proposed spending plan as municipalities, including Hamilton, call on the provincial and federal governments to carry more of the load.
In 2025, the city dedicated $192 million in government funding to housing, shelters, encampment response and tenant-support initiatives, with the municipality picking up about half of the tab.
Hamilton is Home, which includes Indwell, the YWCA, Sacajawea Non-Profit Housing, Good Shepherd, Victoria Park Community Homes, East Hamilton Non-Profit Homes and CityHousing, launched in 2020 with a goal to build 3,000 affordable units.
“We’re making headway on that,” said Cubitt, noting the alliance is now shooting for 6,000 units, which is roughly the number of households in the queue for subsidized housing.
The revised target is based, in part, on budding partnerships with developers looking to salvage condo projects amid a sharp market downturn, he said. “They’d like to see them get built, but maybe not as condos.”
Hamilton is Home has also scoped out other potential parcels for projects, including municipal land off Barton Street West, the site of a temporary modular cabin community for homeless people that’s expected to sunset in 2027.
The goal of 6,000 units is the “kind of scale that really could attract Build Canada Homes’ attention,” said Cubitt, referring to the federal Liberals’ revamped national housing strategy, which has indicated a focus on large projects.
And of particular interest, notably Hamilton’s expiring $31-million commitment, is Build Canada Homes’ $1-billion program for transitional and supportive housing.
A lack of follow-through won’t kill projects, but it “will definitely set them back,” Cubitt said.
“For a lot of our members, it’s hard to pay for project work up front,” which is how the secretariat’s funds have helped.
Mater also noted the city’s affordable-housing efforts can also draw a portion of Hamilton’s $93-million, four-year federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) allocation, which is dedicated to a wide range of initiatives.
So far, all HAF funding the city has received has been committed to projects.
Another future source for affordable housing is Hamilton’s new tax on vacant homes.
In an updated estimate Friday, finance staff predicted $7 million to $10 million could be available as they continue to work out the first year’s proceeds.
Hamilton is Home