City of Waterloo council summary April 27, 2026

** The council summary below provides a snapshot of the major items presented at Monday’s council meeting. The council meeting webcast is available on the City of Waterloo YouTube page. Please refer to the minutes for an official record of the meeting.

BIA (Business Improvement Association) helps uptown Waterloo businesses thrive

Council approved the Uptown Waterloo BIA 2026 levy to fund management costs of a thriving Uptown Waterloo Business Improvement Area. The BIA presented key achievements during an uptown business area update. The uptown core has the lowest vacancy rate in the Region at 5.4 per cent. There are 16 businesses marking anniversaries ranging from 15 to 60 years, while 50 businesses in uptown Waterloo have been operating 15 years or more. The BIA brought 25,000 new visitors to uptown in 2025 and helped 25 new businesses open.

Council requests Province establish grant supporting reuse of heritage buildings as housing

Councillor Roe brought forward a motion to ask the province to establish a new housing-focused “Heritage Helping Housing Building Grant” of $10 million per year to encourage adaptive reuse of heritage buildings to create new housing units. Architectural Conservancy Ontario (ACO) has proposed the grant, emphasizing that heritage buildings can help solve Ontario’s housing crisis by offering solutions that are affordable, equitable and sustainable. The repair and reuse of existing buildings provides faster, cheaper and a more sustainable path to creating affordable housing and enables the delivery of homes faster than new construction. 

Council unanimously supported the motion, which is aligned with the City’s Complete Community strategic priority to encourage new housing units.

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