A total of 49 developers, planning consultants and community groups have signed up for London's plan to fast-track construction of thousands of new affordable housing units over the next two years.

With London's housing supply lagging well behind demand, the city has issued a request for proposals from companies and community groups to get new units built quickly.

At the current stage of the process, the city is looking for organizations and companies to apply for pre-qualification, a first hurdle that will allow them to bid on housing projects in the next three years.

The groups that have applied are varied, and include established developers such as Sifton, Tricar and Old Oak and builders such as Ellis Don. Consultants such as Dillon Consulting and Stantec have also applied for pre-qualification along with community groups like Youth Opportunities Unlimited and Habitat for Humanity.

Groups that clear the pre-qualification phase, which closes next week, will be able to bid on projects that form part of the city's plan to build 3,000 affordable units by 2026.

About two thirds of those units are expected to be paid for with the $74 million in federal funding announced last fall when the Forest City became the first in Canada to access a new housing accelerator fund.

Jared Zaifman is a former city councillor who now heads the London Home Builders Association. He's encouraged by the level of interest shown so far.

"I think it's great to see, just the variety of groups that are involved," he said. "I think the city is doing a good job in making land available, that's a huge hurdle."

Part of the city's plan to boost housing includes freeing up unused, city owned land for development.

One parcel fast-tracked for housing is 1958 Duluth Cres., site of the former St Robert Catholic Elementary School in the Argyle neighbourhood. The city bought the decommissioned school in 2020 and last year council approved zoning changes and hired a consultant to clear the way for the construction of 226 units on the seven-acre site. Most of those units will be in two- and four-storey apartment buildings but there will also be a mix of townhouses and two single-family detached homes on the site.

Though it's not clear exactly how many of those units will be offered at below-market rates, a consultant's report said the development will have "an emphasis on affordable housing."

Other city-owned parcels at 1364-1408 Hyde Park Road north of Sarnia Road are also ready for "development partners" with planning in place to build 140 units in a mix of townhouses and apartments. Any developer that partners with the city could have an almost shovel-ready project and avoid planning approvals that Zaifman said can take between four to seven years.

"To have the planning process largely complete and the land ready to be built on is a huge hurdle to have accomplished," he said.

While Zaifman praised the city's approach to boost housing, he also said hitting the 3,000 affordable unit target in less than two years will be a challenge, even with so much interest. He said many developers have had projects in limbo as high interest rates over the past two years put buyers in a holding pattern.

He said another wrinkle is that the process of qualifying and submitting bids is a complex for companies to navigate.

Kristie Pagniello is executive director of Neighbourhood Legal Services London Middlesex.

She applauds the city for taking steps to address the housing crisis but said many of the projects will take years to develop and won't address a housing need that is already at crisis levels.

"It's great that there's lots of interest and people are getting on board," said Pagniello of the city's housing efforts. "But the housing crisis is right now and it's like we've never seen it before."

Also, she said definitions of "affordable housing" have shifted in recent years.

She prefers to define affordable housing as a rate set at 30 per cent of a tenant's income. Under provincial legislation, it's defined as 80 per cent of average market rent.

"That rate is not really affordable to our clients," she said.