Burlington, a city celebrated for its natural beauty, thriving economy, and strong community spirit, faces an increasingly familiar challenge: the rising cost of housing. As more individuals and families seek to call Burlington home, the demand for housing has outpaced supply, putting a strain on affordability and creating a pressing need for innovative solutions. The City of Burlington recognizes that access to safe, diverse, and affordable housing is essential for the well-being and prosperity of its residents.
A Call for Action: The Need for a Comprehensive Housing Strategy
This challenge necessitates a proactive and multifaceted approach that acknowledges the complexities of Burlington's evolving housing market. The City of Burlington's Housing Strategy, developed through extensive research and community engagement, lays the foundation for a sustainable housing future. This strategy acknowledges the diverse needs of current and future residents, recognizing that housing options must be available for individuals and families at all stages of life and all income levels.
Building a Burlington for Everyone: A Vision of Inclusive Housing
At the heart of Burlington's Housing Strategy lies a powerful vision: "Everyone is welcome in Burlington." This statement goes far beyond a simple welcome mat; it speaks to a commitment to creating a city where housing is not a barrier but a foundation for opportunity and well-being. The city envisions a future where residents are not forced to choose between living in Burlington and finding housing that meets their needs.
Access for All: Breaking Down Barriers
This vision recognizes that housing needs change throughout life, from young adults seeking their first apartments to growing families needing more space to seniors looking to age comfortably in their community. It acknowledges that individuals and families in Burlington have diverse income levels, and that attainable housing should be a reality for everyone, not just a privilege for the few. The city aims to move beyond the traditional single-family housing model, embracing a variety of housing types and tenures, including affordable ownership, purpose-built rentals, and innovative housing forms. This vision of an inclusive Burlington requires a shift in perspective, understanding that diverse housing options benefit the entire community, fostering economic growth, social cohesion, and a sense of belonging.
Pillars of Progress: Guiding Principles for a Sustainable Housing Future in Burlington
Burlington's Housing Strategy is guided by a set of key principles designed to ensure a sustainable and equitable approach to housing development. These principles, woven throughout the strategy's actions and initiatives, act as a compass for decision-making and a benchmark for success.
A Multifaceted Approach: Recognizing the Interconnectedness of Housing
The strategy acknowledges that housing is not merely about bricks and mortar, but is deeply intertwined with a range of social and economic factors. It emphasizes the need to protect existing rental housing stock while encouraging the creation of new rental units, recognizing that a healthy rental market is crucial for affordability and choice. It advocates for a broad variety of housing types and forms to meet the diverse needs of Burlington's residents, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach. The strategy underscores the importance of building awareness and capacity among residents, housing providers, and decision-makers, fostering a shared understanding of the benefits of diverse and inclusive housing options.
Collaboration is Key: Partnering for Success
Recognizing that the City cannot address this challenge alone, the strategy emphasizes the importance of partnerships with all levels of government, the private sector, and non-profit organizations. Through these partnerships, the City can leverage resources, expertise, and community connections to effectively implement the strategy's actions. By working collaboratively, Burlington can create a more equitable and sustainable housing future for all its residents.
Pathways to Progress: Themes for Success and Measuring Impact
Burlington's Housing Strategy outlines five key themes to guide its efforts and measure its success in creating a more inclusive and sustainable housing market. These themes recognize the interconnectedness of housing issues and the need for a multifaceted approach.
Tracking Transformation: Data-Driven Insights
Each theme includes specific metrics and data sources to track progress. By monitoring these indicators, the city can assess the effectiveness of its actions and adapt its strategies as needed. This data-driven approach provides transparency and accountability, ensuring that the Housing Strategy remains relevant and responsive to the evolving housing needs of the community.
The five themes are:
● Support a Healthy Rental Housing Stock: This theme focuses on protecting existing rental buildings and encouraging the creation of new rental units. The city will track metrics such as the purpose-built rental vacancy rate, the number of affordable rental units created, and the number of tenant households facing affordability challenges.
● Support a Broad Variety of Housing Types and Forms: Recognizing that Burlington’s housing stock is primarily single-detached dwellings, this theme promotes increasing diverse housing options, such as townhouses, mid-rise, and high-rise developments. Success will be measured by tracking the diversification of the housing stock, including units for various household sizes, barrier-free units, and innovative housing forms.
● Build Awareness and Capacity: This theme centers on educating residents, housing providers, and decision-makers about the benefits of diverse and inclusive housing. It involves creating resources and programs to facilitate understanding and support for the Housing Strategy's goals.
● Advocate for Partnerships: Acknowledging that the city cannot address this challenge alone, this theme emphasizes collaboration with various stakeholders, including all levels of government, private developers, and non-profit organizations. The city aims to secure funding, policy changes, and innovative partnerships to advance its housing goals.
● Take Action, Define, and Measure Success: This theme focuses on implementing the Housing Strategy's actions, establishing targets, and monitoring progress. It emphasizes adaptability and responsiveness, ensuring that the strategy remains a living document that evolves alongside the city’s housing needs.
These themes provide a framework for action and accountability, ensuring that Burlington's Housing Strategy delivers meaningful and lasting results.
Putting Vision into Action: Strategies for Change
Burlington's Housing Strategy is not merely a document outlining lofty ideals; it's a blueprint for action, outlining concrete steps to address the city's housing challenges and move closer to its vision of inclusive housing. The strategy prioritizes actionable measures that can be implemented in the near and long term, recognizing that progress requires sustained effort and ongoing evaluation.
Empowering Change: Focusing on What the City Can Do
The strategy recognizes that Burlington, as a lower-tier municipality, must focus on the actions it can directly control. This includes advocating for partnerships and working with upper levels of government and housing providers to deliver deep affordability options. It emphasizes the actions the city can take to increase housing choices and opportunities, particularly for middle-income residents.
Proactive Planning and Policy: Creating a Framework for Change
One of the strategy's key components is the implementation of policy and zoning changes to encourage diverse housing development. It acknowledges the need to update Burlington's Comprehensive Zoning By-law to broaden the range of permitted housing types and forms. This includes:
● Expanding permissions for semi-detached dwellings in low-density residential neighbourhoods.
● Streamlining the approval process for higher-density developments in designated growth areas, allowing them to proceed directly to a Site Plan application.
● Exploring the feasibility of allowing tiny homes as a housing option, either as-of-right or through a minor variance process, potentially including a pilot project with incentives.
● Recognizing modular housing as a permanent housing solution, expanding its use beyond emergency housing.
The strategy highlights the importance of ensuring that zoning regulations are not unintentionally discriminatory and do not limit opportunities for diverse housing, including supportive and assisted housing. It recommends removing barriers that restrict the location of shared housing and group homes, aligning with the direction in Burlington's Official Plan (2020).
Financial Tools and Incentives: Encouraging Development
The strategy advocates for the creation of a Community Improvement Plan (CIP). A CIP utilizes financial incentives, such as grants or tax breaks, to encourage private landowners and developers to create new housing units that meet the city's goals. This includes:
● Incentivizing the development of affordable housing units, including purpose-built rentals and affordable ownership options.
● Encouraging the construction of missing middle housing types, such as duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, row houses, and low-rise apartments.
● Providing incentives for the creation of additional residential units (ARUs), such as garden suites, secondary suites, and garage conversions.
Protecting Existing Housing and Promoting Responsible Growth
The strategy emphasizes the protection of Burlington's existing rental housing stock, acknowledging concerns about demolition or conversion to ownership units. This involves exploring the implementation of a rental replacement and demolition control framework. This framework could include:
● Requiring developers to replace demolished rental units on-site or nearby.
● Implementing policies to discourage the conversion of rental units to condominiums.
The strategy also aims to identify underused properties that could be repurposed for housing development. It suggests:
● Working with the Burlington Lands Partnership (BLP) to leverage city-owned lands for affordable housing projects.
● Collaborating with other levels of government and private landowners to identify and activate underutilized sites.
● Creating opportunities for the development of housing with affordable ownership models through the BLP.
Collaboration and Community Engagement: Building a Shared Future
The strategy recognizes that success relies on strong partnerships and community engagement. It calls for collaboration with a range of stakeholders, including:
● Upper levels of government to secure funding and policy changes that support affordable housing development.
● Private developers to encourage the creation of a diverse range of housing options, including affordable units.
● Non-profit organizations to leverage their expertise in providing affordable and supportive housing.
● Burlington residents to foster understanding and support for the strategy's goals.
The strategy highlights the importance of educating residents about the benefits of diverse and inclusive housing, dispelling myths, and encouraging community support for new housing development. It proposes implementing awareness programs and creating resources that explain various housing types and arrangements, emphasizing the positive impacts of gentle intensification on neighbourhoods.2021
Measuring Progress: Ensuring Accountability and Adaptability
The Housing Strategy includes a framework for ongoing monitoring and reporting, allowing the city to track progress, assess the effectiveness of its actions, and make adjustments as needed. It emphasizes the importance of collecting data on key indicators, such as:
● The purpose-built rental vacancy rate.
● The number of affordable housing units created.
● The diversity of housing types and forms.
This data-driven approach ensures that the Housing Strategy remains a living document, adapting to the evolving housing needs of the Burlington community.
First Steps: Prioritizing Action for Immediate Impact
While Burlington's Housing Strategy encompasses a long-term vision, it recognizes the urgency of addressing the city’s housing challenges. The strategy identifies priority actions that can yield quick wins, generating momentum and demonstrating a commitment to change. These early steps focus on areas where the city can make immediate progress, laying the foundation for more complex and long-term initiatives.
Strategic Resource Allocation: Empowering Action
Recognizing that effective implementation requires dedicated resources, the strategy emphasizes the need to allocate appropriate staff to oversee the strategy's execution and ongoing monitoring. This dedicated team will champion the strategy's goals, ensuring that it moves from a plan on paper to tangible action. They will also play a crucial role in supporting the Housing Strategy Task Force, a collaborative body composed of stakeholders from various sectors, tasked with guiding the strategy’s implementation.
Setting Clear Targets and Defining the City's Role
The strategy emphasizes the importance of establishing minimum housing targets that build upon those outlined in the Regional Official Plan. These targets will provide a measurable roadmap for progress, enabling the city to track its success in diversifying the housing stock and creating affordable options. The strategy also calls for a clear articulation of the city’s role and responsibility in supporting a diverse range of housing options that are attainable for all income levels. This clear definition will help to guide policy decisions and communicate the city’s commitment to creating a more inclusive housing market.
Supporting Diverse Housing Options: Unlocking Potential
The strategy advocates for swift action in permitting and encouraging the development of alternative forms of housing, including higher-density options where feasible and appropriate. This includes:
● Expanding permissions for semi-detached dwellings in low-density residential neighbourhoods.
● Streamlining the approval process for higher-density developments in designated growth areas.
These early steps will help create a more diverse and flexible housing market, better equipped to meet the needs of a wider range of residents.
Community Improvement Plan: Incentivizing Action
The strategy highlights the importance of exploring the feasibility of a Community Improvement Plan (CIP). A CIP offers financial and non-financial incentives, such as grants and tax breaks, to encourage developers and landowners to create new housing units that align with the city’s goals.
Monitoring and Reporting: Ensuring Accountability
Finally, the strategy calls for the development of a robust annual housing monitoring and reporting system. This system will track progress on the strategy's actions, using the data to inform future decisions and ensure accountability. By regularly evaluating its effectiveness, the city can ensure that the Housing Strategy remains responsive to the evolving needs of the community.
From Blueprint to Bricks and Mortar: Implementation
Burlington's Housing Strategy recognizes that a well-crafted plan is only as good as its execution. The implementation phase focuses on translating the strategy's ambitious goals into tangible actions that will reshape the city's housing landscape. This involves a multi-faceted approach that combines policy changes, financial incentives, community engagement, and continuous monitoring to ensure the strategy's effectiveness.
The implementation process prioritizes the establishment of a dedicated Housing Strategy Task Force. This task force, composed of residents, housing providers, developers, and city staff, will serve as a driving force, overseeing the implementation of the strategy's actions and monitoring progress. Regular reporting to the City Council will ensure transparency and accountability, keeping the community informed of the strategy's impact.
The city will actively seek partnerships with a wide range of organizations, including upper levels of government, private developers, and non-profit housing providers, to leverage resources and expertise. Public engagement will play a crucial role throughout the implementation process, providing opportunities for residents to share their perspectives, contribute to decision-making, and foster a shared sense of ownership in creating a more inclusive housing future for Burlington.
The city has created a detailed timeline for implementation, outlining short-term, medium-term, and long-term actions, with the aim of achieving meaningful progress within a defined timeframe. Community Improvement Plan (CIP) open houses are scheduled for December 2024, aiming to gather community input and support for implementing financial incentives to encourage the development of diverse housing options. A Statutory Public Meeting is scheduled for December 3rd, 2024 to discuss proposed Official Plan and Zoning By-law amendments aimed at increasing housing options.
Building Consensus: Public Engagement for a Housing Future
Burlington's Housing Strategy recognizes that creating a more inclusive and equitable housing market requires the active participation of the community. Public engagement is not merely a box to check; it’s a fundamental principle woven into the fabric of the strategy. The city is committed to providing meaningful opportunities for residents to share their perspectives, contribute to decision-making, and help shape a shared vision for Burlington's housing future.
The city is utilizing a multi-faceted approach to public engagement, including:
● Online surveys: to gather broad community feedback on housing needs and preferences.
● Public open houses: both in-person and virtual, to provide opportunities for residents to learn about the Housing Strategy, ask questions of city staff and planning experts, and share their input.
● Statutory public meetings: formal meetings where residents can speak directly to the City Council about their concerns and provide input on proposed policies and amendments.
● "Talk with a Planner" sessions: offering one-on-one opportunities for residents to discuss the strategy and its implications in greater detail.
● Presence at community events: such as farmer's markets and street festivals, to provide informal opportunities for residents to learn about the Housing Strategy and engage with city staff.
This commitment to public engagement goes beyond simply informing residents about the Housing Strategy; it aims to empower them to play an active role in shaping its implementation. By fostering open dialogue, building trust, and incorporating community feedback, Burlington aims to create a Housing Strategy that truly reflects the needs and aspirations of its residents.
Balancing Act: Challenges and Opportunities in Housing
Burlington's Housing Strategy acknowledges the complexity of the housing landscape, recognizing that progress requires navigating a path marked by both challenges and opportunities. The strategy anticipates potential hurdles while also emphasizing the potential for positive outcomes.
One key challenge lies in managing growth while preserving the character of existing neighbourhoods. Residents often express concerns about increased density and its impact on traffic, parking, and community aesthetics. The strategy emphasizes the importance of "gentle intensification," which focuses on integrating new housing in a way that complements existing neighbourhoods and enhances community amenities.
Securing adequate funding to support the strategy's ambitious goals presents another challenge. Implementing financial incentives through the CIP and providing necessary staff resources requires a commitment from the City Council and a willingness to explore innovative funding mechanisms. The strategy highlights the need to advocate for partnerships with upper levels of government to leverage funding opportunities.
Despite these challenges, the Housing Strategy presents significant opportunities for positive change. The city's commitment to public engagement can help foster a shared vision for the future, building consensus and mitigating potential conflicts. The creation of the Housing Strategy Task Force will provide a platform for collaboration, bringing together diverse perspectives to guide implementation. Finally, the strategy’s emphasis on flexibility and adaptability allows the city to respond to changing circumstances and ensure its long-term relevance.
Building a Foundation for Housing Equity: A More Inclusive Burlington
Burlington's Housing Strategy represents a bold commitment to creating a city where everyone has the opportunity to call home. This strategy is not just a document; it's a call to action, a roadmap for building a more inclusive and equitable housing market that meets the diverse needs of Burlington's residents, now and in the future.
The strategy's success hinges on the active participation of all stakeholders, from residents and community groups to developers and policymakers. By embracing the principles of public engagement, collaboration, and continuous monitoring, the city can ensure that the strategy remains responsive to the evolving needs of the community.
The goal is not just to build more housing units; it's to create thriving, inclusive neighbourhoods where residents of all income levels and backgrounds can access safe, affordable, and appropriate housing options that meet their needs at all stages of life. This requires a shift in mindset, a willingness to challenge traditional notions of housing and embrace innovative solutions that promote diversity and affordability.
By working together and remaining committed to the principles outlined in this strategy, Burlington can build a more equitable housing future for all.
