Region surpasses affordable housing building goal with 2,707 homes

The Region of Waterloo marked National Housing Day with a major announcement on their Building Better Futures plan.

Regional Chair Karen Redman announced that the region has surpassed it’s five year goal of building 2,500 homes in the region with 2,707 homes built or in development.

According to a regional dashboard, over 1,000 home are in development and 1,700 are occupied as of Nov. 22.

The announcement was made at a National Housing Day event held at the Ken Seiling Museum in Kitchener. Thursday’s event also featured a panel of experts who work directly with those affected by homelessness.

Redman called Thursday’s announcement “a great moment in time,” but said there is still more work to be done.

“I love that it was such a big crowd and we had so many community partners and we could celebrate some of the successes,” she said. “But beneath all that celebration, which we have to take time to do, is the realization that there is so much more work ahead of us.”

The region said on average they are building 675 affordable homes each year, compared to the 50 before the plan was in place.

This time last year, the region announced they had built 2,350 homes across the region.