Brantford has joined an elite group of Canadian communities acknowledged for the strength and reliability of their homelessness data, earning a national certification that local officials say reinforces the city’s progress in addressing housing instability.
The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) has awarded Brantford-Brant the Foundations Quality By-Name Data 4.0 designation through its Built for Zero Canada initiative. The certification places the community among only nine in the country to achieve the milestone, underscoring that Brantford’s homelessness response system is producing consistent, real-time data required to measure and track progress toward ending homelessness.
As the Community Entity responsible for administering the federal Reaching Home program for both the City of Brantford and the County of Brant, the municipality led the effort to meet CAEH’s standards. Achieving the 4.0 designation required a perfect 13-out-of-13 score on the national By-Name Data Scorecard, along with completion of system-mapping work, outreach coordination tools, and the submission of three consecutive months of reliable data. Brantford-Brant has also established July 2025 as its baseline month to measure future reductions in homelessness.
City officials say the acknowledgement reflects a broader period of momentum within Brantford’s housing and homelessness portfolio. The municipality reports that 273 municipally developed affordable housing units have been completed or are underway—representing 54 per cent of its 2030 target. Another 42 units, led by non-profit partners and supported by municipal funding, are currently under construction. Private developers have added 38 affordable homes through Municipal Housing Facilities Agreements, further contributing to the city’s supply.
Brantford has also been recognized for its pace of construction. The Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON), in partnership with the University of Ottawa, recently awarded the city an A+ rating for housing starts—placing it among a small group of municipalities across the province acknowledged for strong performance in new-build activity.
City leaders argue that these combined achievements signal that Brantford is making meaningful progress across the full housing continuum. They also say the data recognition from CAEH is particularly significant because it helps ensure decisions around homelessness interventions are based on accurate and timely information.
Mayor Kevin Davis praised the municipality’s Housing and Homelessness team, noting the role their technical and reporting capacity played in securing national certification. “This acknowledgement demonstrates City staff’s high standards of professionalism and reporting accuracy. From affordable housing to new neighbourhoods, and now a national recognition of our homelessness data system, every partner and every project strengthens our community and brings us closer to achieving our housing goals.”
Reliable data is considered a cornerstone of the Built for Zero Canada model, which promotes coordinated community-level systems designed to track individual experiences of homelessness and reduce the total number of people without stable housing. Quality By-Name Lists allow municipalities to shift from point-in-time snapshots to dynamic, continuously updated data sets that support more responsive interventions.
For Brantford, meeting the 4.0 standard signals readiness to begin measuring sustained monthly reductions in homelessness—seen by CAEH as a key indicator of system-level effectiveness.
The city plans to formally celebrate the achievement during its National Housing Day event on November 20, 2025. Housing and Homelessness staff are expected to highlight progress to date, outline next steps in meeting the community’s 2030 housing goals, and spotlight the partnerships—municipal, non-profit, and private-sector—that have contributed to recent gains.
The recognition also comes at a time when municipalities across Canada face mounting pressure to deliver more affordable housing while confronting rising homelessness rates. Brantford officials say their recent accomplishments show that coordinated planning, investment, and data-driven decision-making can accelerate progress, even amid national housing challenges.
While the city acknowledges that significant work remains to reach functional zero homelessness and meet longer-term housing targets, officials characterize the certification as a clear sign that Brantford’s systems are moving in the right direction. As the community continues to expand its housing supply and refine its homelessness response, leaders say they intend to build on the credibility and momentum provided by the national recognition.