London’s Housing Pledge: A Path to 47,000 units by 2031
We are committed to accelerating housing supply and taking necessary steps to facilitate 47,000 new homes by 2031.
To achieve this pledge, the City is working in collaboration with members of the development and building industry - which includes local and regional developers, homebuilders, infrastructure builders, real estate sector representatives and public sector agencies and private businesses that build housing to outline Targeted Actions to Increase London's Housing Supply.
The housing pledge target cannot be accomplished by the City alone, it is going to take ongoing collaboration and a community-wide approach to achieve this target together!
The Housing Pledge is a roadmap to increasing housing supply, in response to the provincial More Homes for Everyone Act and More Homes Built Faster Act.
Staff reports
- London's Housing Pledge: A Path to 47,000 units by 2031 Update - Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee - October 31, 2023
- London's Housing Pledge: A Path to 47,000 units by 2031 - Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee - February 7, 2023
City Initiatives to Facilitate More Housing
We're undertaking a number of important initiatives that will support the creation of new housing opportunities across the city:
1. Promote high-density development without the need for privately initiated rezoning (as-of-right zoning)
Amendments to The London Plan to support the creation of new housing opportunities.
Summary of approved amendments:
- Maximum height of apartment buildings downtown increased to 45 storeys, up from 35 storeys
- Maximum height of apartments in transit villages increased to 35 storeys, up from 22 storeys
- Maximum height of apartment buildings in urban corridors increased to 15 storeys, up from 10 storeys
- Allow 15 storeys in major shopping area place types
- Maximum height of apartment buildings in main street place types increased to 8 storeys, up from six storeys
- Maximum height on neighbourhood connector streets increased to four storeys, up from three storeys - allow four-storey stacked townhouses on neighbourhood connector streets
Office-to-Residential CIP Incentive program
Developed to provide a per-unit incentive grant (functioning as a forgivable loan) to eligible office-to-residential conversion projects based on the total number of residential units created, equal to $35,000 per unit.
Email CIPIncentives@london.ca for program details and application form. Staff are also available to answer questions or meet (in-person or virtually) to discuss details.
2. Encourage Additional Residential Units
Londoners are now able to have up to four total separate units on a residential property, with no limit on the number of total bedrooms, where zoning permits single detached, semi-detached, street townhouse, duplex, triplex or converted dwellings. For near campus neighbourhoods, the bedroom limit was amended from three to five, with added provisions to further increase the bedroom limit when creating additional residential units, where permitted.
Learn more about ARUs and find answers to frequently asked questions.
3. Promote infill and higher density developments in neighbourhoods
Amendments to The London Plan to support the creation of new housing opportunities.
Summary of approved amendments:
- Maximum height of apartment buildings downtown increased to 45 storeys, up from 35 storeys
- Maximum height of apartments in transit villages increased to 35 storeys, up from 22 storeys
- Maximum height of apartment buildings in urban corridors increased to 15 storeys, up from 10 storeys
- Allow 15 storeys in major shopping area place types
- Maximum height of apartment buildings in main street place types increased to 8 storeys, up from six storeys
- Maximum height on neighbourhood connector streets increased to four storeys, up from three storeys - allow four-storey stacked townhouses on neighbourhood connector streets
4. Encourage alternative forms of housing construction
Develop design guidelines for alternative housing construction methods, including Ontario Building Code review and regulation review.
5. Create a process to develop City-owned land for affordable housing
- Developed a process for disposal of City-owned land assets for creation of affordable housing.
- Created an evaluation criteria to determine feasibility of sites.
- Implemented a competitive selection process for interested developers.
6. Implement new and/or enhanced application processes and systems
- Developing an enhanced online application and inspection portal for residential properties
7. Increase affordable housing units
- Partnering with non-profit housing providers for affordable housing.
- Develop a competitive bidding process, formal partnership agreements and identification of suitable sites.
- Provide contined assistance in collaborating with affordable housing funding agencies, guidance on building and planning requirements and compliance.
- Updated Council's Roadmap to 3,000 affordable units to improve opportunities to partner with non profit housing providers.
These initiatives have been prioritized as part of the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF). London’s approved HAF application provides a housing target of 2,187 additional units between 2024-2026 for eligibility of up to $74M in funding.