Guelph Mayoral Candidates Put Affordability and Housing at Centre of 2026 Election
GUELPH, ON — October 2, 2026 — Housing affordability, increasing housing supply and strengthening Guelph’s economy took center stage today as five of the six candidates for Mayor of Guelph participated in a mayoral forum hosted by the OnePoint Association of REALTORS® at the Italian Canadian Club of Guelph. Candidate John Edward Krusky could not attend.
The forum focused on some of the city's most pressing issues, with candidates responding to questions about housing affordability and supply, development charges, municipal costs and the policies needed to attract investment, create jobs and strengthen Guelph’s local economy.
“The decisions that get made at City Hall have a direct impact on how much housing gets built and what it costs,” said Jennifer Morley, President of OnePoint. “Today’s discussion showed there is a strong commitment from Guelph’s mayoral candidates to pursuing policies that support housing, removing barriers to new supply and making sure Guelph remains a great place to live, work and invest.
The discussion closely reflected the priorities outlined in OnePoint’s Building Homes, Strengthening Communities municipal election campaign, which calls for action on municipal policies that influence housing supply, affordability and community growth.
Ahead of the forum, OnePoint also surveyed registered mayoral candidates on key municipal issues. Five candidates responded to the survey, and the results showed broad agreement on affordability, housing supply, development costs, faster approvals, and municipal accountability.
Survey highlights
Affordability was identified as a top priority. All five responding candidates ranked cost of living and affordability as their number-one priority for the next four years.
Housing supply was also near the top of the agenda. Three of the five respondents ranked increasing housing supply and attainability as their second-highest priority, while the remaining respondent ranked it third.
Candidates supported reducing the cost of building housing. All five respondents agreed that municipal development charges and other growth-related fees should be reduced to encourage construction of more attainable ownership and rental housing.
There was broad support for faster approvals. All five respondents supported approval timelines with performance targets, digital permitting and standardized application requirements. All four also identified faster planning approvals as one of their top three actions to attract investment and create jobs.
Candidates identified property-tax restraint as an issue. Two respondents said annual property-tax increases should be kept below inflation, while two supported keeping increases approximately in line with inflation.
Municipal accountability received broad support. All five respondents supported or strongly supported measures including regular municipal service and spending reviews, greater justification for above-inflation tax increases, shared services, measurable service standards and expanded digital municipal services.
“Candidates clearly recognize that affordability and housing supply are among the most important issues facing the city,” said Katrina Steffler, CEO of OnePoint. “Now we want to hear how they would translate those priorities into action at City Hall."
Keeping housing and affordability on the municipal agenda
OnePoint’s Building Homes, Strengthening Communities campaign focuses on municipal policies that can help create the conditions for more housing, greater affordability and stronger local economies across the communities OnePoint serves.
The Guelph Mayoral Forum provided candidates the opportunity to discuss their priorities directly with REALTORS® and community members and to address the municipal policies that affect housing and economic growth.
OnePoint will continue to engage with municipal leaders and candidates throughout the 2026 municipal election and into the new term of Council, focused on housing supply, affordability, planning and development, and policies that support vibrant, growing communities.
The 2026 Ontario municipal election takes place on Monday, October 26th, 2026.
Additional photos from the event will be published here as they are available.
