The West End Home Builders’ Association (WE HBA), which represents 300 member companies in the land development, new housing, and professional renovation industries in Hamilton, says they are “concerned” by the city’s new housing market and land supply report.
WE HBA Chief Executive Officer Mike Collins-Williams wrote in a letter to Council that the overall findings of the report “point to a housing system that remains significantly constrained, increasingly unaffordable, and far from meeting the needs of Hamilton residents.”
The city report states that there was a rebound in housing starts in Hamilton in 2025, compared to 2024, when the city experienced the lowest number of starts since 2009 (1,481).
The report also says that apartment dwellings exceeded 80 per cent of all housing starts in the city in 2025.
Additionally, 33 per cent of all housing starts were rental units, which exceeds the Urban Hamilton Official Plan target of 27 per cent.
Collins-Williams responded to the data, noting, “While purpose-built rental construction is an important and necessary part of the housing continuum, we are increasingly concerned that municipal policy discussions are beginning to treat rental housing growth as though it alone represents success.”
“A healthy housing market and a healthy local economy require both rental opportunities and attainable ownership opportunities. Hamilton cannot build a sustainable future if an entire generation of residents is effectively locked out of home ownership,” he added.
Collins-Williams says that ground-oriented housing with at least three bedrooms is necessary if the City of Hamilton wants to attract families and talent.
He explained that attainable family-oriented ownership housing faces “significant pressures” such as high development charges, escalating construction costs, and long approval timelines.
The city report also notes that, even though housing starts rebounded, housing completions dropped to their lowest level since 2019.
It also states that there are 32,962 units in the “development pipeline,” meaning units that are in a stage of approval under site plan approval and draft plan of subdivision.
Collins-Williams cautions that pipeline numbers “do not actually house people.”
“The growing gap between approved units and completed homes suggests that many projects remain stalled or financially challenged,” he explained.
He concluded that the city’s focus must shift “toward concrete actions that materially improve housing delivery across all tenures and housing forms.”
The full city Market and Land Supply Monitoring Report, along with the corresponding response from Collins-Williams and WE HBA, can be viewed here.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
