Bruce County releases Housing Action Plan 2024-2026

On July 4th, 2024, Bruce County Council endorsed a Housing Action Plan that outlines 25 actions that Bruce County will take over the next two years (2024-2026) to help address supply and impact affordable housing locally.

The Housing Action Plan will further Bruce County’s Strategic Plan 2023-2026 priority to increase housing options and encourage innovative solutions to build a strong and inclusive community.

Actions focus on 6 different areas of practice including: research; policy development; new programs; incentives; engagement and advocacy for investment in housing solutions to meet the unique needs across the County. The actions will be led by the Community Development Office which was created to provide strategic leadership on priority issues for the County, including housing.

“The Community Development office established the Housing Cross Functional team to align the work of multiple departments to focus the County’s capacity to initiate the 25 actions identified in this plan over the next two years.” says Claire Dodds, Commissioner of Community Development.

Actions that the County will take under this plan include:

  • increasing housing options to meet local needs;
  • permitting more housing development as-of-right;
  • implementing process improvements;
  • inventorying surplus government lands available to support affordable housing builds;
  • supporting non-profit and private developers proposing affordable housing through a new housing concierge program;
  • advocating to other levels of government to provide tools, funding and programs that deliver affordable housing solutions in Bruce County.

The Bruce County Housing Action Plan is focused on increasing housing options for residents at all income levels. Actions included in this plan target non-profit community housing, below-market
rental/ownership, private rental and home ownership. The County is also developing a separate Housing and Homelessness Plan that focuses on actions impacting homelessness services and emergency, transitional/supportive and community housing.

“The Housing Action Plan not only provides a realistic look at the current state of housing in Bruce County but focuses the County’s capacity to take action on several parallel initiatives on housing. Bruce County is focused on finding ways that we can work with our municipal partners, Saugeen Ojibway Nation Environment Office and Indigenous Serving Organizations, non-profit and private developers, and other levels of government to increase the supply of housing and impact its affordability in Bruce County” says Chris Peabody, Warden of Bruce County.

The 25 actions outlined in the Housing Action Plan will be initiated over the next 2 years to help address the supply and affordability of housing locally. The Community Development Office brings together key staff across 5 County Departments to create focus and strategic alignment on the actions and activities the County delivers on housing.

Explore the Housing Action Plan here.

Explore additional resources:

For more information or details regarding support available for the development of affordable housing projects in Bruce County, contact us at housingconcierge@brucecounty.on.ca or 1-800-265-300.

Background: It is broadly accepted that housing is affordable when a household is not spending more than 30% of its income on housing costs. The province has also defined affordable housing thresholds for households of low and moderate income. For ownership housing, the affordable housing threshold is housing that is affordable to households with incomes at the 60th percentile. For renter households, the affordable housing threshold is 100% of average market rent as published by Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC). In Bruce County, the affordable housing thresholds for 2023/2024 were rents below $1,383 per month and ownership costs below $377,300.