Building a sustainable tomorrow, today.
The Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) is a federal government program designed to help local municipalities in initiatives to accelerate the increase in housing across Canada. The City of Cambridge was successful in their application to the Housing Accelerator Fund and entered into agreement with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) on January 31, 2024.
The agreement under HAF will provide $13.3 million in federal funding, allowing the City to move forward with nine initiatives as described in the City's Action Plan with the aim to increase the number of houses being built and see shovels in the ground faster.
The City's Commitments |
In return for the funding, the City has committed to:
- Complete the initiatives in the Action Plan, within the agreed upon milestone timelines.
- Achieve the Housing Supply Growth Target and additional targets by January 31, 2027.
- Submit a Housing Needs Assessment Report by January 31, 2026.
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Housing Supply Growth Target |
The City’s Housing Supply Growth Target is 2,972 projected net new permitted housing units over the first three years of the program.
Within the 2,972 permitted housing units, the city has agreed to additional targets focused on the type of housing units permitted, with:
- 50 multi-unit housing* units in close proximity (1500 m) to rapid transit
- 1,845 missing middle housing units**
- 591 other multi-unit housing units***
- 5.34% of the Housing Supply Growth Target will be affordable units (159 units)
*Multi-unit housing is any residential building with more than one unit.
**Missing middle housing units refers to ground-oriented housing types. This includes garden suites, secondary suites, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, row houses, courtyard housing, low-rise apartments (4 storeys or less).
***Other multi-unit housing refers to all multi-unit housing excluding missing middle and multi-unit housing in close proximity to rapid transit.
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The City's Action Plan |
Initiative 1 - Fast tracking Municipal Lands Program for Affordable and Attainable Housing |
The City will establish a process with dedicated resources to fast track the development of affordable homes.
- Cambridge will select municipal lands to be made available to community housing providers and private-sector developers to construct affordable housing (implementation in 2024).
- The City will make lands ready for development, including planning approvals, financial incentives to improve affordability and/or integrate climate resilient building technologies such as mass timber or modular construction, and select a builder to advance construction of new units (implementation through 2026).
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Initiative 2 - Digital Twin Technology and Using Technology to Accelerate Approvals |
The City will move to a digital approach for development applications and will leverage AI, spatial data and 3D modeling for better quality submissions and faster approvals.
- A new online service will support applications from pre-consultation to approval (vendor selected in 2024, testing in 2025, full launch in 2026).
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Initiative 3 - Additional Residential Unit (ARU) Assistance Program *Launched November 1, 2024 |
Program launched November 1, 2024
The City has removed barriers to the creation of additional residential units (ARU) to promote densification within low-density residential zones in Cambridge.
- A new ARU Community Improvement Plan provides up to $10,000 per property to remove financial barriers and speed up approval timelines.
- For more information view the City's web page for ARU incentive programs.
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Initiative 4 - Comprehensive Zoning By-law and Form Based Zoning |
Planning rules will be updated and modernized to allow more density and variety in housing throughout the city.
- Cambridge will initiate a planning process to introduce City-wide form-based zoning in residential areas (implementation in 2024).
- An updated zoning by-law will facilitate an overall increase in density, including in existing low-density neighbourhoods, by focusing on the form and scale of residential buildings in relation to the lot, rather than the number of dwellings inside the building (implementation in 2025).
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Initiative 5 - Delegation of Authority Enhancements *Completed in 2024 |
Completed in 2024
The City has made changes to internal processes to allow the Chief Planner to approve simple application types. This change shortened approval timelines resulting in accelerated site plan and building permit approvals.
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Initiative 6 - Online Pre-application Guide and Submission Portal Work |
Online services will be enhanced to clarify application requirements for new developments and reduce the time needed to issue permits (implementation in 2024, launch in early 2025).
- A new software solution will organize all the City’s rules, regulations, instructions and data into one place to make it easier to submit a permit application.
- The City will update and improve its GIS database to support the rollout of the new portal allowing users to confirm zoning and other parcel-based details, as well as estimated fees and approval timelines.
- The new portal is estimated to increase the speed at which permits are issued by up to 35%.
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Initiative 7 - Expand Affordable Housing Community Improvement Plan (CIP) |
Affordable housing will be incentivized City-wide through a variety of financial tools and policies.
- Cambridge will prepare a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) to guide future affordable housing developments (CIP update in 2024, expanded incentives launched in 2025).
- The Affordable Housing CIP will offer to waive or return application fees, tax increment grants and access to other grants, and includes a review and update to the City’s Affordable Housing Reserve Fund.
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Initiative 8 - Strategic Growth Areas Secondary Plans |
The City will expand as-of-right zoning to permit medium and high-density housing in mixed-use areas and around the City’s major transit stations.
- Preparation of Secondary Plans for the Main & Dundas Street South Community Node and Hespeler Road Corridor to significantly increase densities (implementation in 2024 and 2026, respectively).
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Initiative 9 - Housing Needs Assessment and Encouragement of Development |
A Housing Needs Assessment is a report informed by data and in-depth research that describes the current and future housing needs of a community or region. The housing needs assessment will provide valuable information for the City of Cambridge to understand and ensure housing supply initiatives are tailored to the needs of the community. |
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