In a year marked by widespread economic gloom and a near-total collapse of the new home market across Ontario, the city of Brantford has accomplished the seemingly impossible, orchestrating a rental construction boom of historic proportions. As most municipalities struggled with stalled projects and received failing grades for housing development, a new report from the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) revealed that Brantford was not just surviving but thriving. This analysis, prepared by the University of Ottawa, shines a spotlight on the city’s extraordinary success, detailing a surge in rental apartment construction that stands as a powerful testament to the impact of strategic local policy. While industry leaders lamented a “particularly dark time” for residential construction, Brantford became an unexpected beacon, demonstrating that even amidst a provincial crisis, targeted and forward-thinking municipal action can cultivate remarkable growth and provide a blueprint for a way forward.
A Story of Unprecedented Growth
By the Numbers Quantifying the Surge
The statistical data underpinning Brantford’s success story is nothing short of remarkable, illustrating a dramatic and rapid expansion of its rental housing sector. The RESCON report, which meticulously tracks development through the first three quarters of 2025, documented an impressive 537 new rental apartment units under active construction within the city. This figure alone would be noteworthy in any context, but it becomes truly exceptional when compared to the city’s recent history. Over the entire seven-year period from 2018 to 2024, a mere 28 rental units were completed in Brantford. This means the construction activity in a single year represents a more than nineteen-fold increase over the combined total of the previous seven years. This surge has provided a critical infusion of much-needed rental stock into the local market, directly addressing housing affordability and availability. Furthermore, the economic ripple effects have been substantial, with the report estimating that this boom in construction has generated approximately 1,240 new jobs for the Brantford economy, providing a significant boost to local employment and commerce in a time of provincial uncertainty.
The true significance of Brantford’s construction boom extends far beyond the raw numbers, reflecting a profound shift in the city’s housing landscape and its capacity to meet the needs of its residents. A nineteen-fold increase in rental unit construction is not merely a statistical anomaly; it represents a fundamental change in development priorities and market dynamics. For a mid-sized city, such a rapid expansion helps alleviate the intense pressure on the existing rental market, offering more choices for tenants and potentially stabilizing rent prices that have escalated across the province. This focus on rental housing is particularly crucial, as much of the development conversation in recent years has centered on homeownership, often leaving the needs of a significant portion of the population unaddressed. By facilitating the creation of hundreds of new rental homes, Brantford has diversified its housing portfolio, making the city a more accessible and attractive place to live for a wider range of individuals and families, from young professionals to seniors looking to downsize. This proactive approach ensures that growth is not just about building structures, but about building a more inclusive and resilient community for the future.
Capitalizing on a Market Correction
A significant external factor that helped pave the way for Brantford’s rental renaissance was a major downturn in a once-dominant sector of the provincial housing market: condominiums. According to Brantford’s Mayor, Kevin Davis, the collapse of the condo market served as an unexpected but powerful catalyst for change. For years, many developers across Ontario had focused their capital and efforts almost exclusively on building and selling condominiums, a model that promised quick and high returns on investment. However, as market conditions shifted and demand for new condos plummeted, these developers found their primary business model suddenly unviable. This market correction forced a strategic pivot. Faced with the need to find new, more stable avenues for investment, construction firms and developers began to redirect their resources toward the purpose-built rental sector, a market segment with consistently strong and growing demand. This industry-wide shift created a window of opportunity for municipalities that were prepared to welcome and facilitate this new direction in development.
While the condominium market’s decline affected the entire province, Brantford was uniquely positioned to capitalize on the subsequent shift in developer focus. It wasn’t merely a passive beneficiary of a market trend; the city had already laid the groundwork to be an attractive destination for rental apartment projects. Mayor Davis pointed out that while the market correction provided the initial push, it was the city’s pre-existing, development-friendly environment that ultimately pulled that investment in. Other municipalities, encumbered by slow approval processes and lacking specific incentives for rental construction, were unable to pivot as quickly or effectively. In contrast, Brantford could immediately offer developers a clear and efficient path forward. The city’s readiness transformed a provincial crisis into a local opportunity, allowing it to absorb the wave of developer interest in rental properties and translate it into tangible construction projects. This proactive stance demonstrated a keen understanding of market dynamics and the importance of being prepared to seize opportunities as they arise, a key element that set Brantford apart from its peers.
The Blueprint for Success Proactive Municipal Strategy
Making Development Financially Viable
At the core of Brantford’s proactive strategy was a powerful financial tool designed specifically to de-risk and incentivize the construction of rental apartments: the city’s tax increment grant program. Mayor Kevin Davis identified this initiative as a cornerstone of their success, explaining that it directly addresses the unique economic model of purpose-built rentals. Unlike condos, which are sold for an immediate profit, rental buildings are long-term assets that generate revenue over decades. This long-term ownership model makes developers particularly sensitive to ongoing operational costs, with property taxes being one of the most significant. Brantford’s program cleverly mitigates this initial financial burden. Once a new rental building is completed, the developer is only required to pay 10 percent of the assessed property tax in the first year. This liability then increases incrementally each subsequent year, reaching the full 100 percent at the end of a ten-year term. This gradual phasing-in of the tax burden provides crucial financial breathing room in the early years of a project’s life, a period when occupancy is still stabilizing. Mayor Davis described this as a “huge incentive” that transforms the financial calculus for builders, making many large-scale rental projects economically feasible where they otherwise would not be.
The strategic design of the tax increment grant program fosters a mutually beneficial partnership between the city and developers, encouraging not just construction but sustained investment in the community. By offering a predictable, ten-year financial runway, the city signals its commitment to the long-term success of these rental projects. This assurance is invaluable to developers, as it allows for more accurate financial planning and reduces the investment risk associated with large, capital-intensive buildings. In return, the city secures the development of high-quality, professionally managed rental housing that will serve residents for decades. Furthermore, this policy encourages developers to view Brantford as a reliable and supportive place to do business, potentially leading to further investments in the future. The program is not a simple giveaway; it is a calculated investment by the municipality that pays dividends in the form of increased housing supply, job creation, and an expanded tax base that will, after the ten-year period, contribute fully to city revenues. This forward-thinking approach demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how targeted financial incentives can unlock private sector potential to achieve public policy goals.
Paving the Way for Builders
Beyond the compelling financial incentives, Brantford distinguished itself by tackling one of the most common and frustrating obstacles developers face: bureaucratic delay. The city has cultivated a reputation as one of the most efficient and cooperative municipalities in Ontario to work with, a sentiment echoed by builders who have navigated its development approval process. According to Mayor Davis, this efficiency is not a recent development but the culmination of years of dedicated effort. The foundation was laid by a “red tape reduction committee” established by previous city councils, which was tasked with identifying and eliminating unnecessary hurdles in the approval pipeline. This long-term commitment to streamlining processes for rezoning applications and site plan approvals has paid off handsomely. By creating a system that is both swift and predictable, Brantford significantly reduces the uncertainty and costly delays that can plague construction projects in other jurisdictions. For developers, time is money, and a clear, reliable timeline for approvals makes Brantford an exceptionally attractive and low-risk location to invest their capital.
The city’s streamlined approval process stands in stark contrast to the situation in many other Ontario municipalities, a point underscored by Richard Lyall, president of RESCON. He identified slow and convoluted approval systems as one of the single biggest impediments holding back residential construction across the province. In a market where developers are already contending with high interest rates and volatile material costs, an unpredictable and lengthy municipal process can be the final factor that renders a project unviable. Brantford’s success in this area is therefore a key differentiator, showcasing how effective governance and administrative efficiency can become a powerful competitive advantage. While municipalities have no control over global economic forces, Lyall stressed that they have direct control over local factors like approval timelines. By taking decisive action to optimize these internal processes, Brantford has demonstrated that a city can actively shape its own destiny. Its achievement serves as a powerful case study, proving that intelligent, targeted improvements to municipal bureaucracy can yield remarkable results and play a pivotal role in addressing the broader housing crisis.
A Model for the Province
The achievements of Brantford in 2025 offered a compelling counter-narrative to the prevailing story of decline in Ontario’s housing sector. While the RESCON report painted a bleak picture for the province, with its president stating, “We are staring into the abyss,” Brantford was singled out as one of the few “bright spots.” In a comprehensive grading of over 30 municipalities on housing starts and sales, many received failing marks, yet Brantford earned an impressive ‘A’ grade. This recognition solidified the city’s status as a leader and a model for what could be accomplished with the right approach. Richard Lyall of RESCON extended his praise directly to the city’s leadership for its “forward-thinking” strategy. His comments highlighted a crucial lesson from Brantford’s experience: while municipalities cannot influence macroeconomic trends or global politics, they possess significant power to shape local conditions. By focusing on factors within their control, such as streamlining approvals and creating targeted financial incentives, Brantford’s leaders demonstrated that proactive local policy could yield extraordinary results, even when the broader economic tide was moving in the opposite direction. This focused, intelligent strategy provided a clear and replicable blueprint for other municipalities seeking to stimulate their own housing markets.
