Ontario aims to bolster new home building with push to cut costs, permits

Shawn Jeffords · CBC News

· Posted: May 11, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

Ontario's lodging curate says helium volition present authorities this week to velocity up caller location construction, a determination that comes arsenic the Ford government struggles to conscionable its extremity of gathering 1.5 cardinal homes.

Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack offered immoderate hints Thursday astir the legislation, which volition beryllium unveiled the aforesaid week the state volition merchandise the provincial budget. The curate said the measure volition velocity up the municipal permitting process for housing and little costs for developers.

Flack is acceptable to marque an announcement Monday greeting successful Vaughan with Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma and Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria.

"We've got headwinds in our economy," Flack told reporters astatine Queen's Park. "We request bold initiatives, and we person to physique faster. We're looking astatine the outgo of lodging today. It takes excessively agelong and it costs excessively overmuch to get shovels successful the ground."

In 2022, Premier Doug Ford pledged to physique 1.5 cardinal caller homes by 2031, meaning Ontario would request to spot 100,000 homes built a twelvemonth to deed that target. But arsenic precocious arsenic past October, the government's ain autumn economical connection showed Ontario is not connected way to deed that level successful 2025, 2026, oregon 2027.

WATCH: How modular lodging could assistance lick Ontario's lodging crisis:

Work connected caller measure began with erstwhile lodging minister

Flack said enactment connected the caller measure began with erstwhile lodging curate Paul Calandra and included consultations with developers and municipalities. He stressed that the authorities volition not destruct improvement charges, fees cities usage to wage for sewers, roads and parks. 

"Without infrastructure, h2o and wastewater, the occupation volition ne'er get done," helium said. "So they're an important tool, but they can't beryllium punitive. In immoderate cases, they're excessively high, and we request to marque definite that they're not hurting the currency travel of getting location builders getting shovels successful the ground."

Efforts successful caller years by the state to destruct improvement charges were mostly reversed erstwhile they proved unpopular with municipalities.

Opposition leaders expressed scepticism astir this latest portion of authorities aimed astatine solving Ontario's lodging crisis.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the authoritative absorption will be combing done the measure erstwhile its tabled.

"I've been asking each time astir what they're going to bash and wherefore they're not prioritizing the gathering of homes," she said. "They've had 8 years now, aggregate bills that are called "Building Homes Faster", and yet, nary homes are being built successful Ontario." 

Stiles said she is acrophobic astir reports from Global News that the measure could widen the arguable MZO (Minister's Zoning Order) powers to Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma. 

"When you look astatine the messiness she has made with Ontario Place, yeah, I person immoderate heavy concerns astir that," Stiles added.

But Flack defended Surma, stressing that the powers which let the state to override municipal zoning rules, volition inactive beryllium taxable to the aforesaid standards applied by his ministry.

"It's astir velocity and process," helium said. "That's each it is. Nothing's changing. The MZO owed diligence volition inactive beryllium done successful my ministry, truthful it's astir velocity and getting shovels successful the crushed faster." 

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, who is the erstwhile politician of Mississauga, said expanding the usage of sweeping zoning orders does not warrant lodging volition beryllium built faster successful Ontario. She worries that it could conscionable pb to further struggle betwixt municipalities and the province.

"It is authorities overreach," she said. "We person heavy concerns wherever determination are nary guardrails with this government."

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said helium supports waiving improvement charges connected starter homes for first-time location buyers wrong existing municipality boundaries. But helium wants the Ford authorities to guarantee that municipalities are made full for the nonaccomplishment of that revenue.

"We don't privation to instrumentality the load of that infrastructure disconnected of caller location buyers and enactment it connected existing homeowners," helium said. "It should beryllium connected the larger provincial taxation base."