A City where everyone belongs and has opportunities to thrive.
The Community Wellbeing Strategy is the City’s guide to making decisions that improve collective and individual wellbeing, today and over the coming decade. City Council endorsed the Strategy on June 24, 2024.
Our City is becoming increasingly diverse and must serve a complex range of evolving needs. The Community Wellbeing Strategy establishes the enabling conditions and capacity to overcome issues and challenges, as well as capitalize on opportunities as they arise.
Our Aspirations
- Connection: Our City connects people with each other and with daily needs closer to where we live.
- Equity: Our City is built on fair access to resources and opportunities.
- Investment: Our City's social infrastructure (spaces, places, services, and programs) is consistently invested in and maintained over time, to benefit both the economy and society.
The Path Forward
The Community Wellbeing Strategy sets out six strategic pathways, each with clear directions and tactics. Learn more about each of the Strategy's pathways below and for details on the supporting tactics, review the Community Wellbeing Strategy.
Complete Communities
Build complete, connected, socially active communities where daily needs are met within a short walk or roll of every home.
OUR FOCUS
Creating the enabling conditions through our land use and zoning decisions to make welcoming, vibrant, and attractive places that encourage and provide people with easy opportunities to be social, build connections, feel safe, and make healthy choices and by using quality design to improve the experience of walking and rolling to make them the most comfortable, convenient, and best choice for short distance travel.
Housing for All
Expand the supply and improve the quality, diversity and affordability of housing in the City.
OUR FOCUS
To meet our housing needs and address the housing crisis, we need to provide the “right supply” of housing. This means ensuring a variety of housing choices (types, forms, affordability levels, and tenures that support all stages of life, abilities, incomes, and needs) so that people don’t have to move away from their communities and support networks as their circumstances change. In addition, the design, quality, and sustainability of housing is critical to meeting peoples’ needs and building healthy, complete communities.
A City for All Ages
Create a city that contributes to wellbeing for all ages and phases of life.
OUR FOCUS
Across the age spectrum, there are both broad and overlapping needs that are best addressed through an intergenerational lens, as well as age-specific needs that are best addressed through a more targeted age group focus. The City is committed to creating a City for all ages by enabling and providing the places, spaces, programs, and services that support our health and wellness as we grow and age.
Accessibility, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Create an inclusive city, where we celebrate diversity, and we commit to advancing equity and accessibility for all.
OUR FOCUS
Designing for a diversity of people and needs to ensure spaces, programs, information, and services are welcoming to all. It is about learning, recognizing, acknowledging, and deconstructing or removing historical and current systemic oppressions, colonialism, racism, marginalization, social inequities, and barriers.
Poverty Reduction & Inclusive Economy
Create a people-centered local economy and work together to break the cycle of poverty.
OUR FOCUS
While other levels of government play a significant role in poverty reduction, at the local level it is important to provide barrier-free access to services and work closely with partners to encourage stable employment opportunities, fair wages, and access to affordable housing to help mitigate the impacts of poverty. These efforts and commitments take time, sustained effort, and collaboration to create a local economy that serves us all.
Partnerships, Advocacy & Financial Supports
Build equitable and supportive partnerships that advance the City’s priorities for wellbeing, align City resources and funding, and advocate for the community’s needs.
OUR FOCUS
Due to the overlapping nature of jurisdictions and mandates related to community wellbeing, the City is focused on and committed to partnerships, advocacy, and funding opportunities that are mutually supportive, based on shared participation, trust, respect, common values, and deepens the long term impact to see greater returns and better community health outcomes.