Kitchener hosts launch of Canada’s Housing Design Catalogue

This initiative aims to make housing more affordable and accessible, providing pre-designed, adaptable housing plans for homeowners and builders, including backyard homes, fourplexes, stacked townhouses and sixplexes. The designs can be found on the City of Kitchener’s website.

“As a partner and top-performing city in delivering on housing, the City of Kitchener is an ideal location to launch this national resource,” said Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic. “Together, with Kitchener’s flexible planning frameworks and resources and Canada’s new guide, we’re making it easier to build more housing across our city.”

The Housing Design Catalogue is one of many initiatives to make housing more affordable and attainable for Canadians. The catalogue includes designs that are energy-efficient, cost-effective through standardization, adaptable for accessibility needs, and tailored to local codes and construction methods.

"Canada’s new government is stepping up with a bold new approach to increase the supply of housing in Canada, and with today’s release of the Housing Design Catalogue’s full technical designs, we are taking another important step to empower local builders to get shovels in the ground,” said The Honourable Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure. “By drawing on the expertise of Canadian architects, engineers, and designers - and collaborating closely with other orders of government - we are cutting red tape and helping to speed up approvals.”

Kitchener’s efforts to get more housing built faster have been demonstrated by being the largest municipality in Ontario to exceed their housing target two years in a row. Through the support of programs like the Housing Accelerator Fund, Kitchener has implemented more flexible planning policies and provided supports for families looking to add an additional dwelling unit and local developers interested in upgrading homes up to four units on a site.

“I want to express my gratitude to Canada’s new government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Minister Gregor Robertson and our local MPs Tim Louis and Bardish Chagger for their ongoing support of Kitchener and our area municipalities,” said Mayor Vrbanovic. “These partnerships are a testament to what we can achieve when all orders of government, industry and community partners work together toward a shared goal. Together, we’re building a stronger Kitchener and a stronger Canada.”

Visit the City of Kitchener’s website for more information.

For more information:

Kayla Snyder
Manager, Corporate Communications
City of Kitchener
media@kitchener.ca

Shannon Weber
Chief of Staff
City of Kitchener
shannon.weber@kitchener.ca