Affordable Housing Strategy
Looking for affordable housing? York Region can help. Visit York.ca/Housing to find out more about their wait list for subsidized rental housing units.
The City of Richmond Hill’s Affordable Housing Strategy, endorsed at the November 24, 2021 Council meeting (item 13.7), is a multi-phased and multi-pronged strategy for the City to work with the building and development sector to create affordable housing in the private housing market in Richmond Hill.
In York Region, Richmond Hill has the highest proportion of both owner and tenant households experiencing affordability issues. The City’s Affordable Housing Strategy considers the following attributes of housing:
- suitable (in size) for the number of people living in the unit,
- adequate (do not require any major repair), and
- affordable in relation to a household’s income (i.e. the household is spending less than 30 percent of its income on shelter).
According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, these attributes are fundamental to the health and wellbeing of households.
Council’s endorsement of this Strategy enables City staff to explore and implement proposed tools and incentives to address the housing gaps in Richmond Hill. The implementation of actions listed in the Strategy aims to assist our present and future residents with choice in housing form and tenure.
Affordable Housing Strategy Implementation
On April 19, 2022 Council appointed seven members to the Affordable Housing Strategy Implementation Committee comprised of two members of Council and five members representing key stakeholder groups involved in the provision of affordable housing.
Subsequent to the inaugural meeting of the Committee on May 10, 2022; on May 25, 2022, Council endorsed the prioritization of actions that were presented and approved by the Committee.
Progress on the Strategy’s action plan is reported annually to the Committee. The most recent annual update was provided in December 2024.
In 2024, the City completed the Affordable Housing Strategy: Housing Needs Assessment Review and Update report. This report updated key changes in socio-demographic and housing trends and confirmed that housing gaps identified in 2021 remain the same, thus the goals of the AHS remain relevant.