Ontario housing minister defends Ford governments plan to cut development charges

The Ford government’s plan to build 1.5 million homes in the next ten years came under fire at Queens Park today as the opposition called for more time to review the legislation that includes a cut in development charges paid to Ontario cities.

Housing minister Steven Clark defended the Tory bill that will reduce or potentially eliminate the fees municipalities collect from developers to fund roads, utilities, and other infrastructure in new communities.

Clark claims development charges have climbed more than 30 per cent in the last two years and it will add more than $100,000 to the cost of a home however critics say the funding gap will be picked up by taxpayers.

Servicing new subdivisions including the proposal and consultation to remove 7,000 acres of Greenbelt land to make way for at least 50,000 homes.

President of the Association of Municipalities Ontario, Colin Best, says an analysis estimates $5 billion worth of fees will be transferred to taxpayers.

Minister Clark was asked how the funding gap will be addressed.

“We spoke with municipal officials in January, big cities, all cities, rural Ontario and we talked about this opportunity, we can provide development charge incentives for the type of housing we need,” Clark answered.

“We need to see the details, we haven’t seen a costing of the development charges impact, environmental and other to see where the justification is,” Best said.