TORONTO — The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) is urging Greater Toronto Area (GTA) municipalities to not raise development charges (DCs) on new homes in the midst of a housing crisis, following the passage of Bill 185, the Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, 2024.
Development charges are fees added to the cost of a new home by a municipal and regional government and are intended to offset the costs of growth-related housing supportive infrastructure, transit and services.
Over the last two decades, DCs in the GTA have escalated rapidly, rising between 250 and 900 per cent, which is far in excess of property tax increases, a release indicates.
In many GTA municipalities, these charges average around $100,000 for a single-family home and can go up to $150,000 in other municipalities.
DCs are only one of the fees levied on new homes by municipal governments. Other fees such as community benefit charges and parkland cash-in-lieu fees are also levied. Fees, taxes and charges from all levels of government account for approximately 25 per cent of the cost of a new home in the GTA.
“If municipal politicians want to contribute to solving the GTA’s housing supply and affordability issues, they should exercise extreme restraint and not increase development charges on new homes,” said Dave Wikes, president and CEO of BILD, in a statement. “Across the province, municipal (upper and lower tier) DCs are the highest fee, tax or charge added by any level of government to the cost of new homes. Increasing DC rates is inflationary to the cost of a new home and can also undermine project viability, preventing projects (and therefore new supply) from coming to the market.”
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