{"id":37881,"date":"2026-04-02T16:14:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37881"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T20:16:20","slug":"development-charge-reduction-greeted-with-optimism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/development-charge-reduction-greeted-with-optimism\/","title":{"rendered":"Development Charge reduction greeted with optimism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An $8.8 billion agreement between the Federal and Provincial governments will support municipal infrastructure investments while helping reduce development charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move was announced Monday by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Doug Ford, and comes with an HST rebate intended to incentivize new home construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The majority of the $8.8 billion in funding over 10 years will support the reduction of Development Charges (DCs) \u201cby up to 50 per cent\u201d of the charges normally collected by municipalities from developers to account for the impact growth has on existing infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DCs have often been cited as a key factor in housing affordability and Monday\u2019s announcement will \u201coffset much of the financial impact of DC reduction on municipalities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, municipalities will also be expected to support DC reductions, so that all three levels of government are supporting increased housing supply and affordability,\u201d said the Federal and Provincial governments in a joint statement. \u201cThe Province will work with municipalities and partners to put forward a list of infrastructure projects for approval with a focus on speed and efficiency. These strategic investments will encourage new home construction and reduce barriers and costs to housing development to help more people realize the dream of homeownership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s announcement was part of a multi-pronged approach to affordability, said Prime Minister Carney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur new partnership with Ontario is about building more affordable homes, more transit, and more careers in the skilled trades,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re tackling the housing crisis from every angle \u2013 so we can build up housing supply and bring down costs for Canadians. We\u2019re building Ontario strong and Canada strong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Premier Ford: \u201cToday\u2019s agreement will be transformational for Ontario and Canada, delivering new homes, transit, and infrastructure, and supporting hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs for Ontario workers. Our government will continue to deliver on our plan to protect Ontario in partnership with the Federal government and municipalities by lowering the cost of building, getting shovels in the ground faster, cutting red tape, and investing in workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reduction of DCs was greeted with cautious optimism by local leaders, with Mayor Tom Mrakas suggesting the devil will be in the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am encouraged by today\u2019s Federal-Provincial announcement to reduce municipal development charges by 50 per cent on new homes for the next three years \u2013 this is a meaningful step that has the potential to unlock housing starts on stalled approved projects and get shovels in the ground faster,\u201d said Mayor Mrakas in a statement. \u201cTogether with last week\u2019s announcement to remove the HST on new home purchases, it\u2019s clear that real action is being taken to make homeownership more attainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust as important, I\u2019m pleased to see the commitment from both levels of government to ensure municipalities are properly funded. Development charges are a critical funding source that support essential infrastructure \u2013 from roads and water to parks and community spaces \u2013 and without proper funding, these costs would ultimately fall on existing taxpayers, which I do not support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Mrakas added the Town will be \u201creviewing the details closely\u201d to ensure the changes work for Aurora, \u201csupporting housing delivery while protecting financial stability and the services residents rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward 5 Councillor John Gallo called it a \u201csignificant step forward\u201d in addressing housing affordability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a meaningful shift \u2013 recognizing that affordability isn\u2019t just about demand, but about reducing barriers to supply,\u201d he said. \u201cFor municipalities like Aurora, this also raises important conversations: how do we balance development charge reductions with maintaining the infrastructure our residents rely on? How do we ensure growth remains sustainable and aligned with community needs? The opportunity here is real, but so is the responsibility to get it right at the local level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HST rebate on new homes will see the Federal and Provincial governments work together to remove the full 13 per cent of HST for eligible buyers of new homes valued up to $1 million and extend the maximum rebate amount of $130,000 to new homes valued between $1 million and $1.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Federal government will provide Ontario a payment in the amount of $875 million, subject to passage of Federal legislation, that may be applied against the Federal five per cent portion of the HST that is being removed from new homes in Ontario. This partnership would provide an estimated $2.2 billion in total tax relief for housing in Ontario and provide homebuyers up to $130,000 in tax relief,\u201d said the governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An $8.8 billion agreement between the Federal and Provincial governments will support municipal infrastructure investments while helping reduce development charges. The move was announced Monday by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Doug Ford, and comes with an HST rebate intended to incentivize new home construction. The majority of the $8.8 billion in funding over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9QZ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 14:17:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37882,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37881\/revisions\/37882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}