Media Release: City of Hamilton joins Bloomberg Harvard City Program to transform planning approvals and build homes faster

City of Hamilton joins Bloomberg Harvard City Program to transform planning approvals and build homes faster

HAMILTON, ON – The City of Hamilton’s participation in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative – Innovation Track Program has already shown great progress, building on City Council’s commitment to support the construction of 47,000 housing units by 2031 helping to combat housing and homelessness within the City.

The program helps municipalities address complex challenges and improve residents’ quality of life through innovative, data driven approaches. The outcome of addressing these challenges positively impacts housing affordability and availability for residents.

“As Mayor, I was proud to initiate the City of Hamilton collaboration with Bloomberg Harvard, which is already delivering real, measurable results for our city,” said Mayor Andrea Horwath. “Since taking office, I've listened to concerns that have made it clear; improving the development approval process was crucial for housing and for our economy. Building more housing faster - and of all types - will help address the housing crisis, as we strive to ensure Hamiltonians have a safe place to call home.

By engaging the development and construction community, and empowering staff to bring forward ideas for positive change, we seized a unique opportunity for innovation and transformation. Through the modernization of our planning approvals process, we are removing barriers and creating a more responsive and transparent system that works for development in all sectors, as well as for staff.”

Since joining the Innovation Track Program in late 2023, the City has been equipped with the tools, knowledge, and resources, which have led to improvements in efficiency, transparency, and overall governance. Two pilot projects - First Wave Portal Pilot and All4One Pilot – have since been initiated to streamline and enhance planning and development application reviews through collaboration.

First Wave Portal Pilot

Through the pilot, staff are testing artificial technology to enhance data-driven development and planning assistance for low density residential applications. The City has already seen a positive shift, including the automation of time consuming and repetitive tasks for staff like data entry.

The successes help speed up overall processes and directly align with addressing Responsiveness and Transparency, a priority of Council.

All4One Pilot

The All4One Pilot, still in its early stages, is led by a cross-departmental City team exploring how to shorten the overall timeline of the Site Plan process for non-profit development projects.

Initial results of the All4One Pilot have been encouraging, highlighted by following improvements:A 60 per cent decrease in the number of days required to review and provide applicant feedback .
A 70 per cent decrease in the processing time for Site Plan applications from receipt to the issuance of a Conditional Site Plan.

City staff experiencing quicker decision making and more clarity on next steps, findings observed by both staff and applicants.

Next Steps

The City is actively working to expand the First Wave Portal Pilot and complete implementation of the All4One Pilot. Assessments will be conducted to identify opportunities to streamlining further steps in the development application process.

“The results we’re seeing through our participation in Bloomberg’s Innovation Track Program are a powerful example of what’s possible when we combine innovation, collaboration, and our commitment to customer service,” said City Manager Marnie Cluckie. “Our learning from this program will help us rethink the way we work – from automating routine tasks to making approval timelines faster. Together, we are building a more accessible and transparent system that works for everyone.”
    
Through this program, the City of Hamilton is transforming its planning and approval processes by enhancing our efficiency and transparency, and in turn, Hamilton is better equipped to get accessible and affordable housing built.

Quick Facts:Through engagement, internal and external collaborators generated 821 ideas for improvement. These ideas were further refined into eight themes organized in a Portfolio of Initiatives to be implemented.

Themes highlighted in the Portfolio of Initiatives includes relationship building, redefining expectations, optimizing and documenting processes, creating transparency, improving internal and external communication, and identifying software supports and technology tools.
The Portfolio of Initiatives also included two ideas selected to be developed as prototypes and piloted – First Wave Portal and All4One.

Additional Resources:
· Report: Innovation in Planning Approvals (Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative – Innovation Track Program) - PED25047, April 9.2025Whole of Hamilton Approach to Housing webpage
City of Hamilton 2022-2026 Council Priorities webpage