The approval of the City of Kitchener budget in late December 2024 startled homeowners with an approval to raise the Region of Waterloo’s property tax by 9.8 per cent which translates to Kitchener property taxes rising by 3.9 per cent. Based on the City of Kitchener’s 2025 draft budget’s summary, this 3.9 per cent increase results in an average annual increase of $131 for Kitchener homeowners.
In keeping with the theme of exploring major issues in the Waterloo Region such as homelessness, housing issues and evictions, an in-depth look into the budget reveals a lackluster pulse check as well as uncertain progress as we begin 2025.
Kitchener is in the second year of their 2023-2026 Strategic Plan Initiative, which was launched in 2023 and complements the existing 20-year vision.
The Strategic Plan has the following key goals: building a connected city together, cultivating a green city together, creating an economically -thriving city together, fostering a caring city together, and stewarding a better city together.
The 2023-2026 Strategic Plan Initiative and the 20- year vision are measures that aim to incorporate the United Nations Social Development Goals (UN SDG) agenda into how the Waterloo Region operates and develops as a city.
“The City of Kitchener is committed to supporting the implementation of the SDGs in Canada and internationally. The SDGs are global, but with a local lens, and we are doing our part to contribute to their success,” the report said.
Aside from being an aggressively Eurocentric and globalist, albeit overambitious movement, the UN SDGs is flawed.
The 2023-2026 Strategic Plan alignment with the UN SDGs is out of the scope of being a plan that focuses on the Region, and incorporating the UN SDGs cannot address distinctly local problems of the Region that require a grassroots outlook.
As explained in the budget, $56M of $75M in federal and Pprovincial funding will be dedicated to housing initiatives which will address the needs and priorities of the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan.
“$42M of the $56M from the Federal Housing Accelerator Fund to support the continued implementation of Housing for All, $14M from the Provincial Building Faster Fund to support the continued implementation of Housing for All,” the report states.
When investigating where the progress is headed and how far we have progressed to remain on track with the Strategic Plan and the 20 -year vision, there is major uncertainty regarding whether this goal is attainable. A progress report on the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan created in 2024 by the City of Kitchener showcases a downward trend in housing goals being met. As part of the Strategic Plan and the 20 -year vision, there was a commitment to build 35,000 homes in Kitchener by 2031.
In 2023, Kitchener surpassed the provincial housing target by 139 per cent, but, in 2024, the city achieved only 40 per cent of the target. Additionally, 11,457 residential units were approved for future development in 2023, while only 2,306 residential units were approved in 2024. , Residential permits issued to start construction also dropped from over 3,900 units in 2023 to merely 1,500 in 2024.
Based on these numbers, it is clear that there is a massive shortfall when considering the goals of the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan. However, the budget does briefly mention that there will be some investments in new housing stock, which means that there will potentially be potentially new areas to build more residential units, or this may potentially refer to changes in zoning. This may refer to multi-family dwellings such as fourplexes, which have become a popular potential option in Southern Ontario.
The UN SDGs are not a template to follow to improve the Waterloo Region, and the social development of the city should not be in accordance with a global plan but should be addressed in coordination with local needs and stakeholders.
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) already created a Municipal Recommendations for Housing in Ontario guide in 2019. This guide showcases various recommendations that municipalities should take to tackle the housing crisis at each level of government.
“Where municipal governments are the primary funders of services in Ontario, they should be the principal policy maker, with input from local communities and housing stakeholders. Provincial legislation, regulations, and policies should give flexibility to meet local needs rather than direct how services are to be delivered,” the guide states.
It does not seem that the City of Kitchener is worried about input from local communities or housing stakeholders with their 2023-2026 Strategic Plan. Rather, they have taken a globalist approach in trying to manufacture a global image of Kitchener rather than addressing local needs.
It is concerning to see the pursuit of a global image of a city overshadow the local needs of a city, but unfortunately that is the case when reflecting on the 2025 Kitchener budget. With construction on Kitchener Indoor Recreation Complex costing $94M in 2025, and an approved Waterloo Regional Police Service budget now at $252.5 million, one can only wonder where our tax dollars going when we see the lack of life -saving resources in the Waterloo Region.
As of Jan. 22, 2025, the Federal Government has dedicated more than $91.5 million, over two years, to help various municipalities, including Waterloo, to support people living without homes.
Hopefully, this funding will help local initiatives supporting unhoused people, but it is quite disheartening to see the local government in Kitchener pursue a global identity while doing the minimum to support the very people in its own community.
Instead of trying to look good to our neighbours, we should address the shortcomings within our own community.
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