More Homes

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. 

Monitor monthly housing indicator highlights that were previously brought to Council through reports to Planning and Environment Committee.

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

City Initiatives to Facilitate More Housing  

We've undertaken a number of important initiatives that will support the creation of new housing opportunities across the city:

1. Promoting 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
  • Change the place type for the lands along Richmond Street and Western Road from rapid transit corridor to urban corridor
  • Reclassify portions of Richmond Street, Western Road, and Clarence Street from rapid transit boulevard to civic boulevard and neighbourhood connector
  • Designate Dundas Street and Kellogg Lane as a transit village place type. Existing transit villages are at Oxford Street and Wonderland Road, White Oaks Mall, Oxford Street and Highbury Avenue, and Fanshawe Park Road and Richmond Street.
2. Encouraging Additional Residential Units

Amendments to The London Plan and the Zoning By-law to increase the number of additional residential units permitted on a property and remove the five-bedroom limit city wide, except for in near campus neighbourhoods.  

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. Promoting 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. Encouraging alternative forms of housing construction
  • Develop design guidelines for alternative housing construction methods, including Ontario Building Code review and regulation review. 
5. Creating 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. Implementing new and/or enhanced application processes and systems 
  • Developing an enhanced online application and inspection portal for residential properties 
7. Increasing 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 continued 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. 
8. Housing Needs Assessment 
9. Enhancing affordable housing incentive programs
  • Build on recent affordable housing CIP improvements to provide added support to procure and incubate partnerships with affordable housing providers, further incentivizing affordable housing development that can be stacked with CMHC and DC exemptions to build further below market rent housing. 
10. Additional Residential Unit (ARU) grant programs to support Indigenous-led units

New program offers incentives to support Indigenous property owners to develop new units, promoting housing diversity, affordability and sustainable land use. A $45,000 forgivable loan per unit to Indigenous-led housing providers or homeowners with a minimum rental period of 10-years, secured through a lien on title.  

11. Expanding Community Improvement Plan incentives for Transit Oriented Development and Office to Residential Conversions

The Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Per-Unit Forgivable Loan Program offers $15,000 per residential unit to eligible developers and property owners to accelerate the construction of new housing, or an office-to-residential conversion, near major transit routes, including areas surrounding downtown, rapid transit corridors, and transit villages. 

Office-to-Residential CIP Incentive program provides 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. 

These initiatives were prioritized as part of the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF). London’s approved amended HAF application provides a housing target of 2,371 additional units between 2024-2026 for eligibility of up to $81.5M in funding. 

London surpasses its Housing Accelerator Fund target ahead of the federal deadline.

Staff reports 


 

Last modified:Monday, August 10, 2026