Mayors’ Housing Partnerships Task Force presents the Affordable Housing Action Plan

BRANTFORD, ON – Today, the Mayors’ Housing Partnership Task Force presented the Affordable Housing Action Plan at the final task force meeting. The plan includes future actions and timelines to create more affordable housing in Brantford and the County of Brant.
Earlier this year, Mayor Kevin Davis convened the Mayors’ Housing Partnerships Task Force together with County of Brant Mayor David Bailey, with the goal to build partnerships to create more housing options in the community as quickly as possible. The acute need for more affordable housing, and the positive impact this stability has on people’s lives cannot be understated. At present, there are over 1,700 households on the community housing waitlist.

The Task Force created project teams to address three key objectives: discover the opportunities; work together; and, make development easier. Task Force members volunteered for project teams based on their expertise, including inventory and mapping, financial options, mentorship and joint applications.

Early successes and the work of the Task Force in 2020 include; creation of a mentorship program and materials to support new partners, completion of inventory mapping to help build new housing distributed appropriately across our community and, financial options to help with approximately $110 million in capital needed to build 500+ new housing units over the ten years.

The City of Brantford and the County of Brant are committed to ongoing engagement and partnerships that will continue the collaboration accomplished through the Mayors’ Housing Task Force and achieve the deliverables in the Affordable Housing Action Plan.

Quotes
“The Affordable Housing Action Plan is directly informed by what we have heard from residents. That input has made it clear that we need urgent action now to ramp up not just the supply of housing, but the right kind of supply. The Affordable Housing Action Plan builds on the measures the City is already taking by focusing on building partnerships with multiple organizations and other levels of government or Federal or Provincial partners to create new housing opportunities and foster the development of more affordable housing options.”
- Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis

“The Affordable Housing Action Plan was developed to effectively address gaps in the community’s housing needs. This plan provides a strong framework. We look forward to working with the City of Brantford, Province of Ontario and other local partners to develop affordable housing that will meet a variety of needs within the community and support the health and wellbeing of citizens.” - County of Brant Mayor David Bailey

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Media Contact:
Maria Visocchi | Director, Communications and Community Engagement
City of Brantford | 519.759.4150 ext. 5754 | mvisocchi@brantford.ca