It focuses on creating deeply affordable and supportive housing, preventing housing loss, and strengthening the systems that help people stay housed.
The DASH Strategy provides a shared framework to guide decisions, coordinate partners, and prioritize local investment. It applies to both Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County. Since 2001, the City of Kawartha Lakes has served as the Consolidated Municipal Service Manager under Ontario’s Housing Services Act, 2011, which means it is responsible for planning and delivering housing and homelessness services across both communities. Haliburton County, given its small population size and low number of housing units participates through joint governance and cost-sharing (as per the Housing Services Act, 2011). This shared arrangement provides the foundation for a regional Strategy, guiding how services are organized, funded, and delivered.
The DASH Strategy replaces the current 2019–2029 Housing and Homelessness Plan and fulfills the provincial requirement to maintain a long-term plan. It will take effect on January 1, 2026, with a one-year transition period to finalize governance structures, complete financial modelling, and prepare the first set of implementation plans. The current plan remains in place throughout 2026 to ensure continuity and provincial compliance.
At its core, DASH is about making sure people in Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County have access to housing that is safe, affordable, and supportive—so they can stay connected to their communities and build better futures.
The City of Kawartha Lakes and the County of Haliburton, like many communities in Ontario, are facing persistent challenges related to housing affordability, homelessness, and service-system strain. This DASH Strategy focuses on the areas where local action matters most: supporting residents with the least access to stable housing, strengthening housing-based supports for people with more complex needs, and aligning CMSM and municipal tools—like planning, infrastructure, and investment—to help deliver deeply affordable and supportive housing.
While housing needs exist across the community, deeply affordable housing plays an important role. It helps prevent homelessness, reduces pressure on emergency and health systems, and creates stability for people with low or fixed incomes. These are gaps the private market doesn’t fill, and meeting those gaps requires leadership, coordination, and strong working relationships across departments, across sectors, and between levels of government.
The long-term goal is a more stable, inclusive housing system—one that makes it possible for older adults, people with disabilities, families, working residents, and long-time community members to stay housed and connected as costs rise.
Community investment in deeply affordable and supportive housing is practical. It improves quality of life, makes better use of public resources, and will help keep Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County a safe and healthy place to live, now and in the future.
A Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County where:
The DASH Strategy is organized around six priority areas. Each one includes a clear goal, what that goal aims to address, and how progress will be measured.
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