Aurora has thousands of units of housing waiting to be built, as another year ticks down on its provincial housing pledge.
Marco Ramunno, the town’s planning director, says the town has approved about 4,200 units of housing from current projects that are still waiting for construction to get underway.
While edicts from the province are calling on municipalities to build more housing faster, and Aurora pledging to facilitate 8,000 new housing units by 2031, there are currently about 300 housing units under construction in Aurora, according to Ramunno.
“I don't think many municipalities are meeting those yearly goals yet, but again, things can change,” said Ramunno, pointing to several large projects that have recently received approval, like a 600-unit apartment building on Metcalfe and Mosley Streets.
“That's almost a year's worth of our goal,” he added.
Ramunno said “everybody's seen a bit of a slowdown” with housing starts, as developers grapple with higher building costs, interest rates and financing difficulties.
What did Aurora approve in 2024?
Aurora approved 196 units of housing during council meetings in 2024.
The biggest of those was a seven-storey 193-unit apartment building on Centre Street that was approved by council in the summer. Council also greenlit three single-detached homes on Glensteeple Trail.
There were also 1,530 units approved by the Ontario Land Tribunal in 2024.
The biggest chunk of that total was the proposed re-development of the old Canadian Tire site on Yonge Street, which will see 480-units built across multiple apartment buildings and townhouses in phase one, with 420 units built in phase two, totalling 900.
Another 600 units were approved by the OLT on Metcalfe and Mosley Street, near the Aurora GO Station.
Council voted down just two housing proposals during 2024, a proposal for a men’s transitional shelter on Yonge Street, and a 45-unit townhouse development on St. John’s Sideroad near the McKenzie Wetland.
The latter project was ultimately approved by the Ontario Land Tribunal, albeit at a smaller size of 30 units.
Units still under consideration
In all, proposals for 1,792 housing units were presented to council this past calendar year, according to numbers compiled by AuroraToday.
The vast majority of those are still moving through the town’s approval process, either from a public planning meeting to a committee of the whole meeting, or from the latter to a council meeting. In total, 1,131 units are in the midst of the town’s approval process.
The biggest chunk of that is a four 12-storey residential towers, totalling 948 units, at 180 Wellington St. E., which previously housed Aurora Tire and Wheel and the Royal Wood Shop.
Council also voted to extend approvals for plans for two different subdivisions, a 50-unit single-detached subdivision at 132-198 Bloomington Rd., and a 70 condominium townhouse development at 45 Tyler St.
A 300-unit proposal for an apartment building and seniors housing building at 14070 Yonge was sent back for a future public planning meeting after resident outcry.
Will Aurora meet its 8,000 units target?
Mayor Tom Mrakas said in an email that the town has “enough capacity to meet our forecast,” adding most new units would come from redevelopment, focused on the Yonge Street promenade and around the Aurora GO Station on Wellington.
“Any new growth in Aurora would come from redevelopment as we simply do not have undeveloped land,” said Mrakas. “We have carefully planned growth in strategic areas such as our Major Transit Station Area around the GO and in our promenade area, continuing the revitalization of our downtown core.”
Ramunno forecast an uptick in the number of building permits and units under construction this year, pointing to subdivisions like the 138-lot development on Archerhill Court.
“Our stats in 2024 with respect to permits was on the low side, but I think based on some of these projects that we've got underway, we'll see more building permits being issued in 2025."
