- What The Ontario provincial government unveiled nearly two dozen proposals to speed up construction
- Why Ontario has fallen behind other provinces in home construction amid a housing crunch
- What next The proposals still require legislative approval and new regulations
The Ontario provincial government introduced a suite of proposals intended to speed up the construction of homes and infrastructure, including deferring development charges for all residential developments.
The proposals come as Ontario is well short of its housing targets.
TD economist Rishi Sondhi wrote recently that Ontario has been the largest drag on Canada’s overall total of new housing stock, as housing starts plunged by 18,000 units month over month in March to 38,600. For comparison, in Québec, which has about 40% fewer people than Ontario, housing starts grew by 8,000 units month over month in March to 55,200 units.
One of the most notable changes planned is expanding the deferral of development-charge payments until the building-occupancy stage for all residential developments — not just for rental housing. Currently, only rental housing and alternative housing such as retirement homes are subject to such deferrals. The province said the move would provide greater cashflow flexibility to developers.
Jeremiah Shamess, head of the Colliers’ Private Capital Investment, highlighted the rapid pace with which development charges have skyrocketed in recent years. Since the 1990s, condominium prices rose about 250%, whereas development charges rose about 3,000%, he said.
“The payment structure is simply not fair for the developer and the end user anymore,” he told Green Street News.
“Why force development charges to be paid upfront? Because ultimately, the end users pay for this cost, as the developer needs the same profit margin, and they have to borrow money to pay for these DC’s up front.”
The province’s lengthy list of proposals also includes:
- Removing municipalities’ ability to impose their own construction standards beyond the building code.
- Restricting municipalities’ ability to require new studies and reports in the permitting/planning stage.
- Giving the infrastructure minister authority to issue Minister’s Zoning Orders, which are used to fast-track development projects in Ontario, effectively bypassing local municipal planning. The minister of municipal affairs and housing currently holds the authority.
- Amending the Transit-Oriented Communities Act to include projects on the province’s GO train and LRT lines, allowing the designation of transit-oriented community lands to apply more broadly.
