City council’s planning and housing committee has signed off on the 2026 draft budget.
In a meeting on Wednesday, the committee passed a motion recommending council approve the budget’s housing and planning section.
Spending on housing in the fiscal plan projected to hit $99.8 million, representing a 3.5 per cent increase compared to 2025. City staff emphasized that a big part of the budget will be funded through user fees — specifically $75.8 million — leaving a $16 million net requirement outside of the user fee regime.
As per the budget directions for a hiring cap on full-time employees (FTEs), there will be an expected 524.86 FTEs within the planning and housing umbrella, representing no FTE growth in 2026.
The total housing capital budget is proposed at $24.1 million, with $23.3 million of that committed to affordable housing. City staff underscored that the affordable housing budget item addresses one of the council’s core priorities for this term: “A city that has affordable housing and is more liveable for all.”
They noted that this parcel of money will support 1,565 units: 903 currently under construction (350 of which are expected to be completed in 2026), 470 expected to start in 2026, and 192 currently in the design stage.
Valerie Wright, representing the Council on Aging of Ottawa (COA), noted the COA’s support of council’s commitment to investing in affordable housing, but expressed some concerns over efficiency in terms of the city’s older population, specifically.
“Progress seems to have slowed with the expansion of older adult developments, especially in the supportive housing sector,” she said. “We are also concerned about the lack of priority given to older adults in large scale housing developments such as Confederation Heights, Lebreton Flats, and the Kilborn site.”
Concern for the City’s older citizens was echoed by some committee members. Coun. Ariel Troster noted that in the ward she represents — Somerset — they are currently seeing substantial evictions of senior women specifically. “We are losing 31 affordable apartments for every one that we build,” she said.
The Ottawa Mission, represented by CEO Peter Tilley, was the second delegation present at the meeting. Tilley expressed concern over Ottawa’s housing crisis, while also recognizing that municipalities are the only level of government not permitted to operate in a deficit.
Still, he made it clear that organizations like The Ottawa Mission are in crisis mode. “We’re in a bit of a warzone right now,” he said. “To talk about ‘defunding the shelters’ so we can put the money towards affordable housing — well, we need to do both, it shouldn’t be either or. Let’s get that affordable housing built first, and then let’s find the wraparound supports.”
During the question-and-answer period with city staff, Coun. Rawlson King compared the $23.25 million commitment to affordable housing in 2026 to the $30 million that was budgeted in 2024, asking city staff for the purchasing power of such a budget envelope.
City bureaucrats acknowledged that there was a drop-off but said on average, the city invests $250,000 per door or per unit.
City staff further reminded committee members that affordable housing projects currently rely on federal funding. “The federal government has been our primary funder for affordable housing development for a number of years. . . and the federal programs that were launched through the national housing strategy are sunsetting very soon.”
The draft budget 2026, which will include the aforementioned housing and planning allocations, will be voted on by council on Dec. 10.
