Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Windsor issued building permits for 1,154 residential housing units in 2023 which will result in housing starts that could exceed local targets and puts the city in line for additional funding from the province’s Building Faster Fund.
This year, the target for housing starts rises to 1,083 units and it will jump to 1,300 new starts in 2025.
“The City of Windsor’s development services departments are undertaking continuous improvements to assist our business community to complete construction on permitted units. We couldn’t achieve these results without our private sector partners,” said John Revell, chief building official.
The Building Faster Fund is a three-year, $1.2 billion province-wide program designed to support community efforts to increase the number of homes in Ontario. The Province calculated their targets based on the number of housing starts in each community, which are residential development sites that have started construction. The target assigned to Windsor in 2023 was 953 units.
“The city has made tremendous progress to date with housing solutions made for Windsor. Working with upper levels of government and key partners, we are helping to move the needle on the national housing crisis at the local level,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens. “Council remains committed to increasing the supply of housing at an accelerated pace.
“The record number of building permits issued last year reflects our commitment to meeting the needs of our evolving community with innovative solutions and solid partnerships.”
Dilkens says the city has “very clearly” exceeded its 2023 housing target by 21 per cent or 201 units in 2023.
As requested by the province, Windsor council recently adopted a Housing Pledge to reach a goal of adding 13,000 housing units over 10 years.
“The City of Windsor continues to pursue additional housing stock in the community. Recent efforts to secure funding through the federal and provincial governments have highlighted the need to ensure consistent and accurate reporting of housing data,” said Jelena Payne, commissioner of economic development.”