Largest affordable housing project in Canada begins in Waterloo
Posted Jun 25, 2026 03:50:23 AM.
Last Updated Jun 25, 2026 11:03:17 AM.
Shovels are in the ground at 2025 University Ave. E. for what is set to become the largest affordable housing project in Canada.
Construction on Union Community Housing at Country Squire near RIM Park in Waterloo is now underway. The building is part of a much larger project, looking to bring 10,000 affordable homes to the region, as part of the BUILD NOW: Waterloo Region initiative.
This particular development will provide 85 affordable rental homes on the 25-acre University Avenue East property donated by the City of Waterloo.
Those homes will be made up of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Not-for-profit group Union Community Housing plans to keep the homes permanently affordable.
Philip Mills, Chief Executive Officer of BUILD NOW: Waterloo Region and Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region, said this project offers new hope for the housing crisis.
“Communities do not have to accept the status quo,” said Mills.
“When municipalities, nonprofit organizations, builders and community partners work together with a shared purpose, we can create housing at a scale that matches the challenge before us. Union Community Housing at Country Squire is the first building, but it represents something much larger, a new way of delivering permanently affordable housing for Waterloo Region.”
Once the University Avenue East community is fully completed, it will include a mix of ownership and rental housing.
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