Burlington Housing Strategy

On April 15, 2025, Council adopted the Burlington Affordable Rental Housing Community Improvement Plan (CIP). The CIP has 10 financial incentive programs. This includes:

• grants
• forgivable loans
• municipal fee waivers
• development charges assistance
• brownfields tax assistance

The incentives are intended to help create more diverse affordable rental housing options in Burlington’s urban area.

A staff memo shares responses from City staff to public feedback that took place between March 19 and April 10. This includes the public meeting on April 8, 2025, about the City’s Draft Affordable Rental Housing Community Improvement Plan. The memo also outlines any recommended changes based on the feedback received.

The By-laws to designate the Burlington Affordable Rental Housing Community Improvement Project Area (CIPA) and to adopt the CIP for the CIPA, are available in the April 15^th Council Minutes.

By-law #23-2025, is subject to a 20-day appeal period and is posted on the City’s Public Notice page.

• EDUCATIONAL SESSION - Unlock the Potential of Your Garage: Learn How to Use Burlington’s New Garage Conversion Kit
• DATE/TIME: Wednesday, April 30, 10 a.m. – noon and 7 – 9 p.m.
• WHERE: Burlington City Hall, 426 Brant St., Room 247, Burlington ON L7R 3Z6

Join us for City Staff and experts for an informative educational session on how to transform your garage into a functional living space using the City of Burlington’s new Garage Conversion Kit.

This toolkit is a guide to create safe, legal secondary units on your property.

During this session, City zoning and building staff will provide guidance on regulations and permits, and incentives. The experts who designed the toolkit will walk you through it.

This session is for anyone in Burlington looking for information or to get started on a rental unit or space for extended family on their property.

This session is brought to you by the City of Burlington at no charge. Please register to attend

The City of Burlington is proposing a housing-focused Community Improvement Plan (CIP) that will apply to Burlington’s Urban Area, the community improvement project area. The purpose of the CIP is to incentivize the creation of new affordable rental housing options, supporting the City’s Housing Strategy, including Action 8 to “Provide incentives through a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for the delivery of housing options to meet the needs of residents.”

The draft proposed CIP includes a variety of proposed financial incentives, such as grant programs and forgivable loans to encourage the development of affordable rental housing, such as additional residential units (ARUs) and units in multiplexes and low/mid/high-rise apartment buildings.

The proposed CIP has been informed to date by the CIP Study Project and various inputs including Council direction, financial feasibility analysis and public and housing industry feedback. A Statutory Public Meeting will be held, and a recommendation report will be presented for the CIP on April 8, 2025. Feedback from this meeting will also be considered in the preparation of this CIP.

You are invited to:

• Review the Draft Affordable Rental Housing Community Improvement Plan (CIP) and provide feedback. A survey is available until April 8 to provide your feedback.
• Learn more about the CIP and the proposed financial incentive programs in the March 6, 2025 presentation and Memo DGM-28-25 to the Pipeline to Permit Committee.
• Attend a Statutory Public Meeting for the CIP on April 8, 2025
• Review the Staff Report

The staff recommendation report will present the proposed CIP and community improvement project area in order to get feedback, and will be available for public review on Friday, March 28, 2025. The report will be available on the City’s website at burlington.ca/calendar by searching for the meeting date for the Committee of the Whole. If you required a hard copy of the report, please email the Legislative Services at clerks@burlington.ca to arrange pick-up.

To speak at the Public Meeting, there are two options:

1. Pre-register to speak by noon the Friday before the meeting is to held. You can pre-register in one of the following ways:
   1. Complete the online delegation request form at burlington.ca/delegation;
   2. Submit a written request by email to Legislative Services at clerks@burlington.ca, or
   3. Phone 905-335-7600, ext. 7481

2. Register during the Public Meeting.

1. If you are attending the meeting virtually, you can register to speak by emailing clerks@burlington.ca, as noted in the ticker tape that will be scrolling along the bottom of the live stream webcast of the meeting with registration information.
2. If you are attending the meeting in person, you can register to speak during the meeting by following instructions provided at the meeting.

Speakers are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes each and are webcasted online. If you have presentation materials, they must be submitted to Legislative Services no later than noon, the Friday before the meeting to allow for their distribution and review by all members of the Committee. Please note the content of all submissions is considered public and will be posted on the City’s website.

The formal Notice of Statutory Public Meeting is available here.

Tell us what you think:

Send your comments to Jo-Anne Rudy, Committee Clerk at jo-anne.rudy@burlington.ca by noon Friday April 4, 2025 if you wish for it to be distributed and reviewed by all members of the Committee in advance of the Committee of the Whole Meeting on April 8, 2025.

If you have any questions about the CIP project, please reach out to housingstrategy@burlington.ca

You may also book a time to Talk to a Planner about the proposed CIP. This engagement opportunity is open until April 4, 2025. Send an email to housingstrategy@burlington.ca to book a meeting time.

Staff report DGM-01-25: Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments to Increase Housing Options – Recommendation Report is now available online. The Staff Report provides the recommendations relating to the work completed through Phase 1 and 2 of the Official Plan Amendment to Increase Housing Options project, the proposed Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment, Planning Analysis and Justification and comments received between December 3 – 16^th.

The report can be found in the Agenda Meeting Package for the January 13 Committee of the Whole Meeting at www.burlington.ca/calendar

Recommendation Report at January 2025 Committee of the Whole Meeting

The recommendation report for the Official Plan Amendment to Increase Housing Options and Zoning By-law Amendment will be going forward as a regular agenda item at the Committee of the Whole on January 13, continuing on to January 14, 2025, if required.

Tell us what you think:

A link to watch the meeting be found in the Agenda Meeting Package for the January 2025, Committee of the Whole (COW) Meeting at www.burlington.ca/calendar. If you would like to speak at the COW meeting, you can do so by pre-registering to speak by noon on Friday January 10, 2025 by:

1. Filling out the form at www.burlington.ca/delegation
2. submitting a written request by email to the Office of the City Clerk at clerks@burlington.ca or
3. calling 905-335-7600, ext. 7481.

Send your comments to Jo-Anne Rudy, Committee Clerk at jo-anne.rudy@burlington.ca by noon Friday January 10, 2025 if you wish for it to be distributed and reviewed by all members of the Committee in advance of the Committee of the Whole Meeting on January 13, 2025.

If you have any questions about the project or proposed Official Plan or Zoning By-law Amendments, please reach out to housingstrategy@burlington.ca

We want to start the discussion with you on Burlington’s proposed Community Improvement Plan! The City is looking at financial and non-financial incentives such as grants or tax incentives to enable new housing units.

Housing-Focused Community Improvement Plan - Public Open Houses:

• In-person Public Open House – Wednesday, Dec. 4, 7-9 p.m., Mountainside Community Centre Community Room 2
• Virtual Public Open House – Thursday, Dec. 5, 7-9 p.m. on Zoom https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86389784390
• In-person Public Open House – Monday, Dec. 9, 7-9 p.m., Appleby Ice Centre Community Room 1

We want to support property owners and housing providers build new rental, affordable and missing middle housing.

Missing Middle Housing are the different types of multi-unit housing that fill the gap between low-rise, single-family homes and large apartment buildings, such as a garden suite, garage or basement apartment, duplexes, fourplexes, courtyard housing and low-rise apartments (4 storeys or less). These buildings are usually similar in size to detached homes so they can fit into residential neighborhoods. The goal is to increase housing options in neighbourhoods and create communities that are walkable with local services and have public transportation options.

Staff report PL-92-24: Draft Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments to Increase Housing Options – Statutory Public Meeting is now available online. The staff report provides an overview of the work completed through Phase 1 and 2 of the Official Plan Amendment to Increase Housing Options project, public engagement throughout the project and the modifications proposed through the draft Official Plan Amendment and draft Zoning By-law Amendment. The report also includes the Feedback Report as an appendix.

The report can be found in the Agenda Meeting Package for the December 2^nd / 3^rd, Committee of the Whole Statutory Public Meeting at www.burlington.ca/calendar

Tell us what you think:

Speak at the upcoming Statutory Public Meeting on Tuesday December 3^rd, 2024 at 9:30 AM.

• Pre-register to speak by noon Friday November 29^th, 2024:

1. Filling out the form at www.burlington.ca/delegation
2. submitting a written request by email to the Office of the City Clerk at clerks@burlington.ca or
3. calling 905-335-7600, ext 7481

OR Register during the Statutory Public Meeting by emailing clerks@burlington.ca if you are virtually, and follow the instructions provided at the meeting if attending in person.

Send your comments to Jo-Anne Rudy, Committee Clerk at jo-anne.rudy@burlington.ca by noon Friday November 29, 2024 if you wish for it to be distributed and reviewed by all members of the Committee in advance of the Statutory Public Meeting on Tuesday December 3^rd, 2024

Talk with a Planner: book a time between December 6 -16^th to speak with a Planner about the Official Plan Amendment to Increase Housing Options. Send in a request or your comments to us by emailing housingstrategy@burlington.ca today!

Any feedback received at the Statutory Public Meeting and over the course of December 2024 will be used to refine and finalize the draft Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments prior to Council’s consideration of a recommendation report to be brought forward to the Committee of the Whole in January 2025.

Thank you to all those who were able to join us for the Official Plan Amendment Public Open Houses. The presentations are now available.

Recording of the Virtual Open House (To access Closed Captioning, click onto the icon that says CC)

The City of Burlington is proposing amendments the Burlington Official Plan, 2020 and Zoning By-law, 2020 that will apply City-wide regarding increasing housing options in Burlington’s urban area in accordance with Council Motion ADM-17-23 to: “Engage with the community to implement four units as-of-right and other actions identified in the Housing Strategy including implementing opportunities to increase the range of housing options available.”

The purpose of the proposed Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw Amendments is to:

• Increase the number of Additional Residential Units (ARUs) permitted on a parcel of urban residential land from two to three in addition to the principal dwelling unit, applying to any land use designation that permits residential uses within the City of Burlington.

The proposed Official Plan Amendment will also apply City-wide to the Residential Neighbourhood Area and like-policies and will:

• Lay the foundation for increasing housing options in Burlington’s Residential Neighbourhood Area by amending its policies to remove density as a consideration and instead use built form and context as the focus for describing what is expected in the City’s neighbourhoods. The amendment will include review of the Neighbourhood Character Area policies and application to the Residential Neighbourhood Area policies.
• Support gentle intensification that considers the context and character of Burlington’s Residential Neighbourhood Areas while providing opportunities to increase the diversity of housing options to meet the needs of all.

You are invited to:

• Review the recommended Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment (available November 22, 2024)
• Review the Staff Report (available November 22, 2024)

The report will present proposed Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendments in order to get feedback, and will be available for public review on Friday, November 22, 2024. The report will be available on the City’s website at www.burlington.ca/calendar by searching for the meeting date for the Committee of the Whole. If you required a hard copy of the report, please email the Legislative Services at clearks@burlington.ca to arrange pick-up.

To speak at the Public Meeting, there are two options:

1. Pre-register to speak by noon the Friday before the meeting is to held. You can pre-register in one of the following ways:
   1. Complete the online delegation request form at www.burlington.ca/delegation;
   2. Submit a written request by email to Legislative Services at clerks@burlington.ca, or
   3. Phone 905-335-7600, ext. 7481

2. Register during the Public Meeting.

1. If you are attending the meeting virtually, you can register to speak by emailing clerks@burlington.ca, as noted in the ticker tape that will be scrolling along the bottom of the live stream webcast of the meeting with registration information.
2. If you are attending the meeting in person, you can register to speak during the meeting by following instructions provided at the meeting.

Speakers are limited to a maximum of 10 minutes each and are webcasted online. If you have presentation materials, they must be submitted to Legislative Services no later than noon, the Friday before the meeting to allow for their distribution and review by all members of the Committee. Please note the content of all submissions is considered public and will be posted on the City’s website.

The formal Notice of Statutory Public Meeting is available here.

Share your Written Comments:

Written comments about the draft Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments can be emailed or mailed to Jo-Anne Rudy, Committee Clerk at jo-anne.rudy@burlington.ca or PO Box 5023, 426 Brant St, Burlington, ON, L7R 3Z6. Written comments are to be submitted no later than noon on November 29, 2024.

We’re increasing Burlington's housing options in our neighbourhoods! We want to hear from you on four units as-of-right and other ways we can enable the range of housing options available.

Official Plan Amendment to Increase Housing Options - Public Open Houses:

• Virtual Public Open House – Thursday, Oct. 17, 7-9 p.m. on Zoom https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87130267048
• In-person Public Open House – Tuesday, Oct. 22, 7-9 p.m., Central Arena Auditorium
• In-person Public Open House – Thursday, Oct. 24, 7-9 p.m., Appleby Ice Centre Community Room 1
• Virtual Public Open House – Monday, Oct. 28, 7-9 p.m. on Zoom https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81492359254

Watch for the survey and mapping exercise Oct. 16 - 29

Official Plan Amendment to Increase Housing Options is at the Burlington Centre Lion’s Farmers Market on Friday Oct 11!

Come meet with a Planner to discuss the Official Plan Amendment to Increase Housing Options at the Burlington Centre Lion’s Farmers Market this Friday. We want to hear from you on four units as-of-right and other ways we can enable the range of housing options available.

• Burlington Centre Lion’s Farmers Market: 8am to 2pm

As part of the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), Burlington is working on a housing-focused Community Improvement Plan (CIP). Staff are working with a consultant to deliver the CIP.

The CIP will work on three initiatives in the City’s Housing Accelerator Fund Action Plan:

• Implementing Major Transit Station Areas and Community Planning Permit System.
• Support and encourage the creation of additional residential units and consider opportunities to increase as of right permissions. Burlington is proposing four units as of right and a no parking minimum pilot within a specific geographic area.
• Identify opportunities to incentivize the creation of rental and non-market housing.

The CIP will help with housing needs of our residents by incentivizing the creation of new rental housing and more affordable housing options, like:

• New units to meet HAF housing targets before December 2026:
  • Affordable housing
  • Additional Residential Units (i.e. Garden suites, secondary suites, garage conversions, detached modular)
  • Duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, row houses or courtyard housing
  • Low-rise apartments (4 storeys or less).
• Supportive housing
• Larger rental units in low to high-rise buildings (i.e. 3-bedroom units)
• Barrier-free units in low to high-rise buildings or Additional Residential Units

Community Improvement Plan incentives will help landowners increase the number of units on their properties. It will help developers increase the number of units in their projects. The CIP project aligns with the Official Plan Amendment to Increase Housing Options Study which will enable four units per residential lot, including additional residential units (ARUs).

What is a CIP?

A Community Improvement Plan (CIP) is a land use planning tool that allows municipalities like Burlington to provide grants and loans and other incentives to private landowners to help the City meet its housing goals. For example, the incentives can help to cover development costs for new affordable housing units.

Why is the City doing a CIP Study?

The CIP Study supports the City’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) Action Plan. It identifies incentives to help create new rental housing and more affordable housing options. The CIP study will determine effective approaches, programs and tools and align with the City’s Housing Strategy, HAF Action Plan initiatives and the Burlington Official Plan, 2020. The study will look at best practices, market trends and emerging updates from the Province.

Why do we Need a Housing CIP?

We need more rental and affordable housing, and the CIP can make this happen.

Owning a home is not affordable for many Burlington residents. Only households with higher incomes can afford a home in Burlington unless they have a down payment greater than five per cent or spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing costs. The City needs a wider range of housing options, including rentals. The 2021 Housing Needs and Opportunities Study showed that at least 200 rental units need to be added to Burlington each year.

How is the Study being funded?

The CIP Study is being funded by the Federal Government of Canada’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF). The HAF will also provide funding for the financial incentive programs for the first two years of the program, until the end of 2027.

Work Program

The CIP Study is being done in three stages and will be done in 2025. There will be opportunities for you to give input and help shape the City’s first housing-focused CIP.

Get Involved! We want you to be part of the CIP Study! Stay tuned for upcoming engagement where you can share your thoughts, ideas and concerns.

Check out the poll questions tab on the page to give us some feedback!