Ontario home building and development industry hails historic federal and provincial announcement on development charges

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Toronto, March 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) applaud the federal and provincial governments for their historic announcement today committing $8.8 billion over 10 years to lower development charges (DCs) across Ontario while ensuring municipalities have the funding necessary to support growth-related infrastructure. Lowering development charges will improve housing project viability, improve housing affordability and increase housing supply.

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“The importance of today’s announcement to home building across Ontario cannot be overstated,” said Scott Andison, Chief Executive Officer of the OHBA. “In an environment where government fees, charges and taxes have historically added 25 to 30 per cent to the cost of a new home, lowering development charges by as much as half will dramatically improve the viability of projects and enhance affordability.”

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Development fees are levied by municipalities and regions on new homes in Ontario to offset the cost of new housing supportive infrastructure (i.e., water and waste water systems and transit), and services (fire, police and ambulance). Development charges range from tens of thousands of dollars in smaller municipalities to as much as $130,000 per single-family home in the GTA. These charges have increased by as much as 1000 per cent in the last decade and a half.

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Under the announcement today, the provincial and federal government will provide matching funding into a program administered by the province. Municipalities will be able to apply to the program but must commit to lowering their development charges and updating their DCs background studies. It is anticipated that the program will result in the lowering of development charges by as much as 50 per cent (variable by municipality) within three years. 

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“BILD and OHBA have long called for systemic and structural development charge reduction in the GTA and across the province,” said Dave Wilkes, President and CEO of BILD. “It is important to remember that it is impossible to build new housing without housing supportive infrastructure. The beauty of this program is that it will not only result in reductions to development charges, but it will also ensure that municipalities continue to have the funding required to put the necessary pipes in the ground and to build much needed transit. When viewed in conjunction with last week’s announcement on the reduction or elimination of the harmonized sales tax on new homes for a year, the actions of the federal and provincial government demonstrate an unparalleled level of commitment to building new housing in Ontario.”

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BILD and OHBA have published numerous studies quantifying the impact of development charges on housing supply and affordability, measuring their increase over the past two decades and comparing Ontario’s DCs system to other jurisdictions.

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