Building Better Futures: 2,500 homes in 5 years
Welcome to 41 Westhill Drive, Waterloo
In 2021, the Region of Waterloo established the Building Better Futures Initiative, which sets a clear target for the Region to work alongside provincial, federal, non-profit and private sector partners toward the creation of new 2,500 affordable homes across the Region.
This initiative includes identifying vacant Regional lands for the purpose of developing affordable housing. To support this, the Region of Waterloo will be seeking a development partner to build mixed-income housing at 41 Westhill Drive in Waterloo.
A request for proposal (RFP) will be issued to seek proposals from companies and/or non-profits interested in developing the property. The successful development partner will receive the land to support the construction of affordable housing. A timeline on development is to be determined.
Regional Staff will provide confirmation of a revised RFP release date in the new year.
This project supports the Region of Waterloo's strategic focus area(s)
About the Site
This 0.7 Acre (0.28 Hectare) property is bordered by Ira Needles Boulevard (west frontage), and Westhill Drive (east frontage) in the City of Waterloo, approximately 250 metres south of Erb Street West (Highway 9).
41 Westhill Drive
Questions or Feedback?
If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out to Katrina Fluit, Senior Development Planner at Kfluit@regionofwaterloo.ca.
Input gathered from the community will be included in the development RFPs to help inform submissions for development.
Upcoming Information Session
A Community Open House is planned for residents to learn about the future mixed-income housing development at 41 Westhill Drive in Waterloo. Residents can attend to find out more about the Zoning By-law Amendment application, ask questions and share feedback.
In-person Community Open House (drop-in): Wednesday April 15, 2026 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Kitchener-Waterloo Bilingual School, 600 Erb Street West, Waterloo.
This information session is open to anyone. No registration is required.
There are no presentations and no set start time. Drop in anytime between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to review information boards and talk to project staff.
Information boards will be posted following the event.
Past Information Sessions
The Region of Waterloo held public information sessions for the community to ask questions about the property, the development process and how this work will support housing affordability in our community.
If you missed the public engagement sessions, not to worry. A link to the presentation slide show is available on this page.
(Complete) Virtual Information Session: Wednesday, September 28, 2022, 7:00PM - 8:00PM
(Complete) In-person Information Session (drop-in): Tuesday, October 4, 2022 at the Kitchener-Waterloo Bilingual School, 600 Erb Street West, Waterloo
More information and past reports
Past Reports:
Additional Resources:
- The City of Waterloo's Engage Page includes information on the submitted Zoning Bylaw Amendment application, and details about that process. See more here: https://www.engagewr.ca/41-westhill-drive
A public Request for Proposal (RFP) for the development of affordable housing units will be open to private and non-profit developers. A selection committee comprised of Regional staff from Planning, Development, and Legislative Services, Housing, Facilities, and Procurement will evaluate the submissions based on an established evaluation framework, which will include weighted measures, focused on but not limited to:
- Regional Guidelines: Submission of specific deliverables that address things like built form, context-sensitivity, open space, amenity provisions, and leading-edge innovation in social and environmental sustainability;
- Number of Affordable Units: Percentage of affordable housing units above a minimum of 30% and depth of affordability (affordable is defined as rent at or below 80% of Median Market Rent);
- Duration of Affordability: Target a minimum 40-year duration of affordability;
- Fit: Integration into the community (e.g. through design excellence and use of high-quality materials);
- Accessibility: Accessibility features above minimum building code requirements, achieve VisAbility or universal design standards;
- Sustainability: Promote net-zero operational carbon targets;
- Community Benefit: Consider a community space and/or community service where specified through the RFP;
- Commit to providing a smoke-free building;
- Consider community benefit agreement through a commitment to providing training of skilled labour to apprentices and/or un/underemployed individuals, and/or to incorporate youth employment opportunities during construction; and,
- Other Criteria as established.
- On May 11, 2021, the Affordable Housing Framework outlined the development of an innovative strategy to accelerate the development of affordable homes across Waterloo Region over the next five years (Report CSD-HOU-21-05/PDL-ECD-21-05). The strategy, Building Better Futures, encompasses strategic funding of investments by the Region and leveraging of federal and provincial grant programs to supplement these efforts in the creation of up to 2,500 new affordable homes along with our partners. The strategy also includes the use of lands surplus to the needs of the Region for the purposes of developing affordable housing, furthering efforts to achieve affordability for all.
- The RFP and disposition process presents an opportunity to target specific housing needs in Waterloo Region, and to incorporate learning from the Beechwood affordable housing project initiated in 2020. The Region is developing community profiles for each site to ensure projects are responsive to neighbourhood needs.
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These are the people that are listening and responding to your questions.
Katrina Fluit
Senior Development Planner
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