Quality Communities for a Diverse Population
Vision 2026 identifies how York Region residents will live, work, play and learn in healthy, accessible and safe neighbourhoods that are vibrant, exciting and people-friendly. Residents will continue to enjoy the high quality of life that attracted them to York and will have a strong sense of belonging and commitment to their communities.
To support this goal, York Region, working with area municipalities and other partners, will focus on these action areas:
- Celebrating Our Diversity
- Planning for the current and future needs of seniors, including their accessibility needs
- Responding to children in need
- Involving and investing in our youth
- Creating Vibrant Urban and Rural Communities
- Fostering a strong sense of community, identity and place
- Encouraging the development of recreational opportunities and exciting community places
- Promoting livable, sustainable and safe communities
- Revitalizing and promoting compact community cores
- Promoting high-quality urban design
- Encouraging pedestrian-friendly and transit-oriented neighbourhoods
- Valuing our countryside and rural lifestyle as well as the distinctiveness of our towns and villages
- Addressing the challenge of demands for urban service levels in rural communities
Enhanced Environment, Heritage and Culture
In 2026, York Region residents will continue to value and embrace the Region's unique natural heritage (land, air, water) and cultural heritage (sites and buildings important to our history, faiths and cultures). To support this goal, York Region, working with area municipalities and other partners, will focus on these action areas:
- Securing a Green York Region
- Protecting sensitive features such as forests, watersheds, the Oak Ridges Moraine and Lake Simcoe
- Promoting a permanent linked greenlands system
- Continuing to develop strategies for a green region, such as the York Region Forest and Land Securement Strategy
- Ensuring Clean Water and Air Protecting the quality and quantity of groundwater, surface water and streams
- Enhancing awareness of the importance of groundwater
- Complying with and maintaining high standards for drinking-water quality
- Promoting clean air policies and initiatives
- Promoting alternative transportation methods that improve air quality, such as public transit and cycling
- Encouraging water conservation
- Using energy more efficiently in operations of the regional government
- Investigating and promoting alternative energy sources
- Living and encouraging the three Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle
- Anticipating and responding to climate change
- Celebrating historic towns and village cores
- Appreciating our unique cultural sites
- Encouraging and promoting our arts and culture
- Encouraging the preservation of historic buildings, heritage homes and significant historic areas
- Embracing our evolving cultural and faith communities
- Recognizing the role of the agricultural industry and landscape in our heritage and economy
- Protecting high-quality agricultural land, including local food sources such as the Holland Marsh
- Protecting agricultural areas from incompatible or potentially harmful uses
Housing Choices for Our Residents
York Region residents will have access to a variety of housing options that are safe, affordable and responsive to their diverse and changing needs. To support this goal, York Region, working with area municipalities and other partners, will focus on these action areas:
- Providing Appropriate Housing Mix and Supply
- Encouraging the production of housing that residents can afford to rent or buy
- Responding to the need for specialized housing, such as for people with physical disabilities and seniors living on their own
- Planning for Strong Live, Work, Play and Learn Connections
- Achieving better connections between where residents live, work, play and learn
- Working to match the needs of employees with housing options
- Encouraging the development of public and private services close to where people live
- Creating Well-Designed and Livable Communities
- Encouraging quality urban planning and design that emphasizes the needs of people
- Enhancing residential streetscapes
- Encouraging the development of compact communities where people can walk to services
- Encouraging the integration of nature into development
- Encouraging and implementing architectural design controls in new developments
- Addressing homelessness and developing homelessness prevention programs
- Developing policies and programs to meet a variety of housing needs, including shelter for vulnerable residents and affordable ownership options
- Encouraging productive partnerships with the private and non-profit sectors, as well as other governments, to produce mixed-income communities
Click here for a report from the Community Services Department highlighting progress and future plans. Click here to download.
National Information
Canadian housing affordability report to March 2008. Click here to download.
Canadian household habits and trends in living with the enviornment. Clickhere to download.