Housing & Affordable Homeownership — One Plan, Every Path
The Problem
London has a crisis at one end and homes that feel out of reach at the other. In between, almost no path for modest-wage earners, young professionals or middle-class families looking to get ahead.
The Solution
One connected plan with four paths. Wherever you stand, there is a next step forward. The right support and real opportunity. Every path meets people where they are. Every path uses federal and provincial dollars already set aside for housing, layered with local tools that keep this off your property taxes.
Path 0. Stay Housed
The cheapest crisis is the one that never happens.
- •Rent Bank and food banks funded like infrastructure, not charity, and scaled to economic pressures.
- •Add an optional London Hydro agreement that puts financial support information on bills that are falling behind, catching households before they lose everything.
Path 1. A Place to Start Over
Keep London's micro shelter program running, more cost-effectively, restructured into two communities.
- •One for people who have lost their homes in the last two years and are seeking help to start over: living wage job training where applicable, financial literacy supports, an individualized plan for success, a support worker, and part of their shelter allowance saved for first and last month's rent.
- •A second community for people in crisis: on-site triage, mental health support, and medical care, with clinical staff funded through the provincial health streams while the individual prepares for a supportive housing placement.
Path 2. A Place to Rent
Two plans to expand affordable rental in London.
- •The Landlord Partnership: removes the risk of renting to someone getting back on track. The Rent Continuity Guarantee covers any disruptions in monthly rent payments. The Property Guarantee is a $10,000 fund covering unexpected damage or tenant unpaid rent. Legal and casework backing provides a dedicated fund for LTB mediation costs and one year of on-call caseworker support.
- •Mixed-Income Buildings: continuing and expanding non-profit mixed-income buildings, providing deeply affordable, affordable, and market rents under one roof.
Path 3. A Path to Owning
Creating real plans for affordable homeownership.
- •Save while you rent, administered by non-profit residential operators. A portion of your market rent is held in trust for your down payment for up to 10 years.
- •The down payment assistance program, protected and maintained.
- •Little Homes on trust land: energy-efficient small-home communities managed under a Community Land Trust by a non-profit operator. This concept will provide homeowners of a little home the opportunity to build equity and enjoy a better quality of life, while staying affordable for the next buyer.
What This Means For You
For established homeowners:
- •Your kids and grandkids can afford to stay in London, and it will not touch your property taxes.
- •Neighbourhoods stay stable. Gentle additions, no sprawl, no new infrastructure costs.
For young professionals, graduates, and working families:
- •A real way into the housing market in the city where you want to build your future.
- •Save-while-you-rent turns your rent into your down payment. Little Homes make ownership actually reachable.
For seniors:
- •The opportunity to downsize to an easily maintainable home and a comfortable retirement. Freeing up single family homes.
For anyone one month from losing their home:
- •Prevention that catches you before crisis.
A Proven Model
- •St. Thomas-Elgin cut chronic homelessness by 36.7 percent in under a year, forty-five minutes down the road, using the same federal money and the same kinds of organizations London has.
- •Hamilton has opened mixed-income buildings that stand on their own without ongoing taxpayer subsidy. The model works.
- •Whitehorse's community land trust is selling homes well below market. That is the mechanism behind Little Homes.
My Proposal
- •Set a public target in the first year to cut chronic homelessness, so Londoners can measure the difference for themselves.
- •Fund prevention like infrastructure. Rent Bank and food banks in multi-year budget lines, scaled to economic pressures.
- •Launch the landlord partnership with the Rent Continuity and Property Guarantees, so private landlords say yes.
- •Pilot Little Homes and save-while-you-rent with non-profit partners on the ownership side, using federal and provincial dollars already set aside for housing.
- •Tie agency contracts to outcomes, not activity: housing retention at 6 and 12 months, return rates, prevention savings.