City another step closer to providing housing support to those in urgent need

BRANTFORD, ON: As demand for housing continues to outpace availability across Ontario, lower vacancy rates and higher housing costs continue to make it increasingly difficult for prospective home buyers and renters to find suitable housing options, creating significant detrimental impacts across the housing continuum. This is being felt acutely in Brantford, whereby the inability for home buyers or renters to find safe and affordable housing has led to higher incidences of homelessness.

In August 2020, Brantford City Council voted in favour of accepting an offer of $14M from Elite M.D. Developments for the sale of nearly 32 acres of City owned lands at 282 Stanley Street. Today, The Corporation of the City of Brantford confirmed that Elite has waived all conditions and the deal is now firm.

The sale has been the subject of multiple court actions including an unsuccessful attempt to overturn Council’s decision on judicial review, as well as a court action against certain members of the public, including Trevor Bomberry, among others, wherein the City was awarded an interim injunction to stop the illegal occupation of the property. The City of Brantford and Trevor Bomberry have settled the City’s lawsuit against him (and others) arising from the occupation at the former Arrowdale Golf Course in 2021, including all motions brought within that action. The City continues to participate in a court supervised mediation process with the other named parties with a view to resolving all outstanding matters before the court.

Funds from the sale of 282 Stanley Street lands

The approved Municipal Housing Master Plan and Affordable Housing Action Plan that commits to building over 506 new municipal affordable housing units in our community over the next 10 years, requires $100-105M in funding. After grants, and other contributions, it is estimated that $45-55M of municipal funding is required from both the City of Brantford and the County of Brant to meet this goal.

The proceeds from the sale of the 282 Stanley Street lands are a critical component to provide the necessary means for the City’s share of the funding to start meeting the increasing and acute demand for affordable housing in Brantford. The first affordable housing development to benefit from the sale proceeds will be constructed at 346 Shellard Lane featuring 70 units. These units will make a huge difference in the quality of life for many, who in some cases have waited over 5 years for affordable housing.

The City is also pleased to share that excavation work has begun today on a new affordable housing build at 177 Colborne Street. As part of the Municipal Housing Master Plan with the goal of creating 506 additional units by 2030, the multi-storey modular development will house 26 studio units with a main level dedicated to commercial space.

City another step closer to providing housing support to those in urgent need

Funds from the sale of 282 Stanley Street lands

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