Strategies For Developing Affordable Housing: An Analysis of Service Managers’ Housing and Homelessness Plans in Ontario

Housing unaffordability has become a crisis in Ontario as many residents struggle to find affordable housing across the province. The objective of this research is to uncover how service managers in Ontario are planning to address this growing unaffordability by developing new affordable housing. The following research question guides the methodology of this paper: What measures are being employed by Ontario service managers to facilitate the development of new affordable housing? This was done through an analysis of service manager’s housing and homelessness plans to thematically code measures that pertained to developing new affordablehousing into common themes across plans. This study finds a reliance on land use planning measures and incentives to get more affordable housing online, especially as they pertain to allowing and incentivizing secondarysuites. Comparisons between different service managers show that support from upper levels of government, mostly in the form of increased funding, is depended on more heavily by northernand smaller service managers to develop affordable housing. Finally, more can be done by service managers to collaborate with the Indigenous community to develop more Indigenoushousing solutions. Ultimately, this research is intended to benefit municipal administrators and service managers in Ontario that may question what other jurisdictions are doing to developnew affordable housing.