Lee Fairclough Pledges to Build 150,000 Homes a Year, Lower Rents and End Chronic Homelessness

For Immediate Release

TORONTO, Oct. 8, 2026 — Ontario Liberal leadership candidate Lee Fairclough announced her housing and homelessness plan today to build more affordable homes, improve protections for both renters and landlords, and end chronic homelessness across Ontario.

“Doug Ford broke his promise to build 1.5 million homes, and last year Ontario was the only province in Canada where housing starts declined,” said Fairclough. “Today rent and mortgages take more and more of our paycheques, making more people vulnerable to homelessness, straining our public services, hurting our economy, and making our communities less safe.”

“My comprehensive plan treats housing as foundational for our economy,” continued Fairclough, “By working together with every level of government, we will make life more affordable for workers, help businesses find staff, make our communities safer, and deliver more value for our tax dollars.”

Fairclough’s policy, titled Housing for All and Ending Homelessness, commits to hitting the Housing Affordability Task Force target of 150,000 new homes a year. Her plan would create a provincial counterpart to Build Canada Homes, to build more housing, restore rent control for all apartments, eliminate unfair rent hikes, and adopt a province-wide Housing First strategy to get people experiencing chronic homelessness into stable housing.

The Etobicoke—Lakeshore MPP and Ontario Liberal critic for hospitals, homelessness, mental health and addictions stressed that solving this crisis requires evidence, smart fiscal management, and teamwork. She developed her plan after listening to feedback from communities and experts across the province – including Eric Lombardi, former Ontario Liberal leadership candidate and co-founder of the housing advocacy group More Neighbours Toronto.

“From restoring the dream of homeownership and making renting more affordable to tackling homelessness and addictions, Lee understands the far-reaching impacts of Ontario’s housing crisis,” said Lombardi, who is now supporting Fairclough. “Her commitment to reform municipal finances and address the true costs of building housing show she’s prepared to change the systems fuelling this crisis.”

Fairclough’s Housing for All and Ending Homelessness plan focuses on four key priorities:

• Building 150,000 Homes a Year: Establish Ontario Homes to build housing using public lands and low-cost government financing. Bring Ontario back to funding its fair share of affordable housing and municipal infrastructure. Speed up construction by legalizing missing middle housing, allowing mid-rise buildings near transit, permitting single-stair buildings up to six storeys, and promoting modular homes.
• Lowering Rents and Ensuring Fairness and Consistency for Tenants and Landlords: Restore rent control for all apartments, including units built after 2018. Ban Above Guideline Rent Increases (AGIs) for basic routine repairs, increase fines for bad-faith evictions, and publish an annual list of the province's worst landlords. Hire additional Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) enforcement officers to ensure RTA violations are applied consistently and fix the Landlord Tenant Board with more adjudicators to clear the case backlog.
• Repairing Homes We Have: Restore provincial funding to repair aging social housing units and finance deep energy retrofits to cut utility bills.
• Ending Chronic Homelessness: Adopt a Housing First approach, work with municipalities and partners to build supportive housing on public land. Strengthen ODSP and Ontario Works to keep people housed, eliminate wait times for publicly funded addiction treatment beds, and expand community mental health care.

“Ontario communities have always come together to help our neighbours when they’re in trouble. Leaving people to struggle in cold tents, emergency rooms, and transit stations is a complete failure of leadership,” Fairclough added. “We can solve this crisis if we work together, build homes people can afford, and help people to stay safely housed.”

To read the full housing plan, visit leefairclough.ca/policy/housing-and-homelessness.

Media Contact: media@leefairclough.ca