Hamilton Votes October 26: Where the Mayoral Candidates Stand on Housing

Written by Daniel Zareh, REALTOR® — licensed since 2006, serving Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Grimsby, Burlington and Oakville.
Last reviewed October 19, 2026. Every quote and detail below was checked against the original source on October 19.

Hamilton votes for mayor and council on Monday, October 26.

More than a dozen people are running for mayor. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, and this isn't a political post. But four of them have now said on the record what they'd do about housing, and if you own here, plan to sell here, or rent units out here, those answers are worth more of your attention than most of the campaign.

Here's what they actually said, what's already locked in regardless, and the one thing I'd watch.

➣ Search Hamilton and Stoney Creek homes on the live map

One Stoney Creek site is effectively on the ballot

Most elections give you platforms. This one gives you an address.

In July the City announced a deal with Crosswalk Communities, a non-profit, to build 60 affordable units at 5 and 13 Lake Avenue South in Stoney Creek. Both sites are currently used as parking lots. Twenty per cent of the housing is to be prioritized for veterans, and Crosswalk plans to use modular construction to shorten the build. The City is leasing the land at a nominal rate and putting in $500,000 through the Housing Secretariat's Affordable Housing Development Project Stream.

Getting there wasn't quiet. Council voted on it twice and both debates ended in a tie. At a third vote last March, Mayor Andrea Horwath used strong mayor powers to push it through.

That's the part that makes it an election issue. Rob Cooper, the Ward 8 councillor who's running for mayor, says he'd work with Ward 5 Councillor Matt Francis to reverse the decision and choose a different site, with community input, once the mayor gains signing authority on November 18. His words: "So it's not against building it, it's just that you have to be in tune to the community."

Horwath defends the way she did it: "We've had a housing crisis for a long time for a reason — because the housing wasn't being built."

So if you live near Lake Avenue South, this vote has a concrete outcome attached to it. That's unusual, and it's worth knowing before Monday.

What the four of them said about supply

These are from a mayoral debate covered on October 13. I'm quoting them rather than summarising, because the summaries flatten the differences.

Keanin Loomis committed to a number: "I am announcing tonight a clear commitment to deliver up to 5,000 affordable units in my first term." On the Stoney Creek site, he said he'd have worked with the local councillor instead of overriding council — "A strong mayor shouldn't have to use strong mayor powers."

Andrea Horwath, the incumbent, ran on her record: 2,100 units built or committed since 2024, which she described as "Forty times more than the last term of council."

Rob Cooper supports affordable housing but wants the Stoney Creek decision undone and a new site picked, as above.

Scarlett Gillespie praised Horwath's use of strong mayor powers in that case, and pushed on enforcement rather than new building: "We must enforce the law, and the city has to use its power and authority to do so," so low-income tenants aren't left in poor conditions.

Four candidates, four genuinely different theories. One wants a bigger number. One wants credit for the current number. One wants a different location. One wants the existing rules actually enforced.

The variable that matters isn't the platform. It's strong mayor powers.

Here's my honest read, and it's the thing I'd actually watch.

Every candidate's housing number depends on whether council agrees with them. Strong mayor powers are the tool that makes council's agreement optional. Hamilton has now seen that tool used on a specific site, in a specific neighbourhood, after two tied votes.

Whoever wins inherits it. One candidate has said plainly he doesn't think it should be needed. One has already used it. One wants to use the signing authority to go the other way and unwind a decision. That's a bigger difference than any unit count, because it decides how fast things can happen near you and how much warning you get.

For anyone holding property in a neighbourhood where something is proposed, that's the practical question. Not whether the city builds more. How quickly a decision can land on your street.

Three things that are already locked in, whoever wins

Worth separating the campaign from what's settled.

The Ward 2 heat bylaw. Council approved a pilot requiring landlords in downtown Ward 2 to keep at least one room in each unit below 26 C, a threshold recognised by Health Canada. Landlords can seek exemptions where there are structural, electrical or physical barriers, or where compliance would need construction or demolition, and tenants can opt out. The pilot starts next year and runs through September 2028, with staff recommendations on expanding it city-wide due in early 2029. If you own rental units downtown, that's a capital item on a known clock.

The development charge window. Hamilton eliminated residential development charges through March 31, 2029 in exchange for $572 million in infrastructure funding. That's a signed agreement, not a campaign promise. I've written about what the $572M deal actually means if you're buying, including why the headline per-home saving isn't a cheque.

The second suite review. The city has been reviewing its rules on second suites, and that work carries into the next term. If you've been thinking about adding a legal second suite, the rules you'd build under are being written now.

What I'd do with this, depending on where you sit

If you're selling in the next six months: this doesn't change your pricing. It really doesn't. Hamilton's market is being driven by inventory and buyer financing, not by who's in the mayor's chair — the September numbers across Hamilton, Grimsby and Stoney Creek tell that story better than any platform does. What an election can do is add a few weeks of hesitation among buyers in a neighbourhood with a live proposal. Price for the market you're in, not the council you're hoping for.

If you're an investor or a landlord: the heat bylaw is the one with a date on it, and it's the one most owners I talk to haven't read. The enforcement question matters too — one candidate campaigned specifically on enforcing housing standards, and that's a cost, not a headline.

If you own near a proposed site: ask yourself what you'd want to know if a decision landed in sixty days instead of two years. Then go find out where the file actually sits. Most people discover a project when the sign goes up, which is far too late to do anything useful about it.

If you're buying: honestly, carry on. None of this should move your offer. A neighbourhood with new affordable housing near it is not a neighbourhood with a problem, whatever anyone tells you at an open house.

You can still vote before Monday

Advance polls ran on October 3 and 4, 10 and 11, and 17 and 18, so those are done. The City's plan, as reported in April, also had special advance voting at City Hall from October 16 to 23 — which means as of today you may still be able to vote early there.

I'd confirm that at hamilton.ca rather than take my word for it, since I'm working from the City's April plan and these things shift. On election day you can vote at any polling location in your ward.

If you own near Lake Avenue South

Send me your address and I'll pull everything that's sold within a few streets of you in the last six months, and tell you plainly whether the Lake Avenue South project shows up in those numbers in any way I can actually measure.

The honest answer is usually that it doesn't. Sixty units on two former parking lots is unlikely to move comps on a street of detached homes, and I'd rather tell you that than turn it into a reason to list. If the data says otherwise, I'll show you the sales.

Call: 416-276-0052   Email: daniel@zarehhomes.com

Or just fill in the form below with your address and I'll come back with the comps.

Keep reading

• Hamilton eliminated development charges on new homes — what the $572M deal means if you're buying
• The Elfrida urban boundary ruling — what a tribunal decision actually means for Stoney Creek buyers
• Hamilton's second suite rules — where the review stands and what owners should know
• September 2026 market update — Hamilton, Grimsby and Stoney Creek, area by area
• Homes for sale in Stoney Creek — neighbourhoods, prices and what buyers should know

Daniel Zareh is a licensed REALTOR® with over 20 years of experience serving Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Grimsby, Binbrook, Beamsville, Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga. Candidate quotes are from reporting dated October 13, 2026, and the Lake Avenue South project details from the City's July 16, 2026 announcement.