We should all be thinking about the young people growing up in Hamilton today and asking a fairly simple question: where will they live as adults. Some will want an apartment downtown. Some will rent a townhouse with friends. Some will be ready for their first condominium. Others will dream of a backyard and enough bedrooms for the family they hope to have. But will Hamilton have room for all of them?
Across Canada, young adults are finding it increasingly difficult to establish the lives previous generations often took for granted. Statistics Canada has reported that millennials aged 25 to 39 are about twice as likely to live with their parents as baby boomers were at the same age. Housing increasingly influences when people leave home, where they work, whether they can save and when they start families.
Hamilton cannot solve Canada’s housing crisis on its own, but through good planning and public policy we can decide what kind of city we want to be for the next generation. One of our biggest opportunities is hiding in plain sight: gentle density and smaller-scale infill that can fit naturally into existing neighbourhoods. That could mean a six-unit building on a larger residential lot, a small collection of townhouses on an underused property or a modest condominium that gives a first-time buyer a pathway into homeownership.
Individually, these projects seem small. Collectively, they can make a meaningful contribution to housing supply while making more efficient use of existing infrastructure. They also allow people to live close to schools, parks, transit, shops and the communities they already know.
The desire for these homes has not disappeared. An April 2026 Missing Middle Initiative report commissioned by the Cornerstone Association of REALTORS® notes that 88 per cent of Ontario non-homeowners under 30 still hope to own a home one day. The challenge is increasingly finding a home that suits their needs at a price they can afford.
Building more gentle-density housing can create that missing step between an apartment and a traditional detached home. It can also give older Hamiltonians more opportunities to downsize within the neighbourhoods they already love, freeing up existing family-sized homes for the next generation.
But infill cannot carry Hamilton’s housing needs alone. We also need an honest conversation about ground-oriented housing, land supply and Hamilton’s urban boundary. Research from the Missing Middle Initiative highlights that more than three-quarters of Ontario couples with children live in ground-oriented homes, including detached homes, semis and townhouses. Good planning means recognizing that reality and planning for the full range of housing people want and need at different stages of their lives.
Young adults, particularly those with small children, are searching for attainable family homes. The Missing Middle Initiative also found that Ontario communities adding more ground-oriented ownership housing tended to experience stronger migration inflows. If a young Hamilton family wants a townhouse, semi or detached home and cannot find one here, they may look to Brantford, Niagara or beyond. We should not be surprised when people follow the housing they can afford.
Unlocking appropriate lands for thoughtfully planned new communities is not abandoning good planning. It is good planning. It gives us the opportunity to build complete communities from the beginning, with a mix of housing, parks, schools, trails, transit, neighbourhood businesses and the infrastructure needed to support growth.
And then there is downtown. Hamilton should continue working toward a downtown where people do not just visit for dinner, a concert or a Forge game, but where families genuinely want to put down roots. That requires more homes, but also safe streets, cleanliness, welcoming public spaces and the amenities that make neighbourhoods successful.
None of this matters if the homes we plan and approve cannot actually be built at prices people can afford. Approval delays, unnecessary studies and unpredictable requirements all add costs that eventually reach buyers and renters. Government cannot control every factor affecting housing prices, but it can control the efficiency of approvals, the costs it imposes, whether infrastructure keeps pace with growth and whether sufficient land is available to meet long-term housing needs.
Hamilton does not need to choose between density and family homes, downtown and suburbs, renters and homeowners, or existing neighbourhoods and new communities. A successful city needs all of them.
