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Hike in Toronto development charges “killing future projects” says industry expert

The cost of building housing in Toronto will soon rise by tens of thousands of dollars per unit as the city hikes development charges by nearly 50 per cent.

The fees, which are charged to developers and help pay for the associated capital investments required to support new development, are evaluated every five years using a long-standing formula.

City officials maintain that even with the increases, Toronto will still have cheaper development charges than several neighbouring municipalities, including Markham, Mississauga and Vaughan.

But at least one representative for the residential construction industry say that the costs have now grown too steep in Toronto and surrounding communities and risk “killing future projects” during a time when the region is in the midst of a housing crisis.

“It is just completely wrongheaded. It’s almost as if there’s some group that does not want housing supply, it’s almost as if they want to stop growth in Toronto,” President of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario Richard Lyall told CP24 . “It will affect builders and developers in terms of their ability to bring projects to the market. But the people that are going to get hit the hardest by this are the ones that are just barely making it into the market and can only just afford housing now. It is entirely irresponsible and it is flabbergasting.”

The new development charge framework, which still needs to be approved by city council later this month, would see the increases phased in over the next two years.

(CTV News)