Share your thoughts on high-occupancy housing in Kawartha Lakes

Kawartha Lakes – As our community grows, so does the demand for housing. Shared and higher-occupancy housing, such as room rentals and accessory units, have grown in popularity.

We are seeking public input to inform future initiatives, regulatory approaches, and strategies related to single-detached residential dwellings that are used for:

• accessory dwelling units,
• room rentals, and
• other housing arrangements to accommodate more occupants. 

Visit the project page at jumpinkawarthalakes.ca/high-occupancy-housing to complete the survey before May 22, 2026.

We recognize that high-occupancy housing has important benefits, including affordability, housing choice, aging in place, and support for students, workers and extended family. At the same time, we receive concerns around building safety, overcrowding, health risks, property maintenance issues, parking availability, and increased traffic volumes within residential areas.

Public feedback will help us better understand community perspectives on housing needs, neighbourhood impacts, and the benefits and concerns of regulation.

The current legislative and policy frameworks encourage municipalities to support a full range and mix of housing options to meet the needs of current and future residents. Through our research, we will consider:

• Housing supply and mix
• Intensification density
• Affordable and attainable housing
• Infrastructure capacity
• Compatibility and good planning
• Tenant and homeowner perspectives
• Workforce and economic stability
• Enforcement and consideration of non-conformity issues

We are collecting this information to understand housing demand, safety, community need and perspective. This will allow us to consider strategies that reflect needs and municipal and provincial policy direction.

Outcomes of this research could include licensing frameworks for certain housing types. It could also include updates to zoning requirements that support safe housing, while respecting the quiet enjoyment and character of residential neighbourhoods. Your feedback will help guide future land use planning decisions.