Chatham-Kent is looking at making a promise of building 1,100 homes by 2031.
At their meeting being held tonight, Chatham-Kent council will look to approve a housing pledge as requested by the province’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, The pledge’s purpose is to address Ontario’s housing supply crisis and reach the provincial goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.
If current trends continue, Chatham-Kent should easily eclipse the 1,100 target in the next couple of years. According to municipal figures, Chatham-Kent has averaged 571 building permits for new housing units a year for the past four years,
On a provincial website that tracks Ontario’s housing supply progress, Chatham-Kent has by far exceeded its 2023 housing target of any municipality in the province. With 340 builds so far in 2023, as per provincial figures, Chatham-Kent has already exceeded its 2023 assigned target by 420 percent.
Housing build targets set for Chatham-Kent include; 81 for this year, 92 for next year, and 110 for 2025.
The pledge is not intended to be a formal land-use planning document and should help formulate council’s commitment to meeting a housing target and how the municipality intends to hit that target.