Committee receives progress report on housing pledge targets

The Planning and Housing Committee received an update on residential development indicators in Q2 2024 and the year to date. The Planning and Housing Committee received an update today on residential development indicators showing that housing starts in Q2 2024 increased by 34 per cent over the previous quarter. There are now about 14,500 dwellings under construction in Ottawa, including 438 not-for-profit dwellings. To help address the housing crisis, Council committed to providing home builders enough opportunities to build 151,000 quality market homes by 2031 – or 15,100 new dwellings per year. In the first half of 2024, the City has already put applicants in a position to seek building permits for 10,566 dwellings. In fact, since tracking began in January 2023, the City has granted permissions or approved development applications for 42,060 dwellings. While those home builders are now able to seek building permits for most of those dwellings, however, they have only secured building permits for about 16 per cent of those potential homes as of Q2 2024. In other words, applicants have secured permits to build 6,840 housing units, leaving more than 35,200 units still in the pipeline. Visit ottawa.ca/residentialdwellings for a graphic showing quarterly progress towards Ottawa’s housing pledge targets.  The Committee also approved a zoning amendment to facilitate a development of low-rise homes in Orléans, west of Provence Avenue. In 2022, the City obtained the Nantes Woods woodlot on the site through a land exchange agreement, located just north of Lalande Conservation Park. The amendment would enable both dedication of the remaining Nantes Woods lands to the City and the completion of the community east of the woodlot. The City aims to keep Nantes Woods natural and to build nature trails that link to the current trail system. Recommendations from today’s meeting will rise to Council on Wednesday, October 2.