Bryan Tuckey: One-fifth of price of new GTA home goes to government fees, charges.
So what are development charges? Ontario’s cities and towns pass bylaws to set development charges. They use these charges to collect money from new homes and businesses to pay for critical infrastructure: sewers and water pipes, roads, transit, parks and community centres. There is no doubting their importance.
The Development Charges Act are accompanied by a background study, which outlines the estimated amount and location of development within a municipality, and the related calculations of how the new services will accommodate the new population.
In 2012 alone, the industry estimates that more than $1 billion was paid in DCs by new-home owners across the GTA.
DCs and other taxes represent one-fifth of the cost of a home in the GTA, according to a study of six GTA municipalities.
The study involved Toronto, Markham, Oakville, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ajax and Brampton.
Since 2004, those municipalities have increased DCs between 143 and 357 per cent.
Let’s look at the Town of Oakville, as one example: for a new single-detached home, Oakville charges $23,503 in DCs; Halton Region charges $36,778; Oakville’s school boards charge $4,175 in educational DCs to allow them to acquire land for schools. In total, that new-home owner is paying $64,456 in DCs.
Those DCs are added to new-home owners’ mortgages, and they must pay the interest on those charges for decades.
When DCs are the biggest charge on a home, they pose a threat to the affordability of homes and even the health of the home-building industry.
Owners of resale homes do not have to pay DCs, but owners of new homes and businesses do.
Development Charges are a disincentive to creating new neighbourhoods where new residents and businesses can flourish.
So what are development charges? Ontario’s cities and towns pass bylaws to set development charges. They use these charges to collect money from new homes and businesses to pay for critical infrastructure: sewers and water pipes, roads, transit, parks and community centres. There is no doubting their importance.
The Development Charges Act are accompanied by a background study, which outlines the estimated amount and location of development within a municipality, and the related calculations of how the new services will accommodate the new population.
In 2012 alone, the industry estimates that more than $1 billion was paid in DCs by new-home owners across the GTA.
DCs and other taxes represent one-fifth of the cost of a home in the GTA, according to a study of six GTA municipalities.
The study involved Toronto, Markham, Oakville, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Ajax and Brampton.
Since 2004, those municipalities have increased DCs between 143 and 357 per cent.
Let’s look at the Town of Oakville, as one example: for a new single-detached home, Oakville charges $23,503 in DCs; Halton Region charges $36,778; Oakville’s school boards charge $4,175 in educational DCs to allow them to acquire land for schools. In total, that new-home owner is paying $64,456 in DCs.
Those DCs are added to new-home owners’ mortgages, and they must pay the interest on those charges for decades.
When DCs are the biggest charge on a home, they pose a threat to the affordability of homes and even the health of the home-building industry.
Owners of resale homes do not have to pay DCs, but owners of new homes and businesses do.
Development Charges are a disincentive to creating new neighbourhoods where new residents and businesses can flourish.
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