Ontario's Big City Mayors Caucus Presents on Bill 185 at Standing Committee for Finance & Economic Affairs

On May 7, as chair of Ontario's Big City Mayors (OBCM), I presented our position on the Province's Bill 185 housing legislation Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act at the Standing Committee for Finance and Economic Affairs.You can watch the presentation here at minute 14:00. OBCM Vice-Chair and London Mayor Josh Morgan also joined me for question period from the Committee.In our presentation, I stated OBCM sees Bill 185 as making progress towards addressing the housing challenges faced by municipalities across Ontario. OBCM believes the policy changes, such as the lose-it or use-it measure, will help municipalities reallocate servicing capacity from developers who are not building to developers who are ready to undertake housing projects.OBCM has further outlined our support for the elimination the phase-in for development charges and lowering the DC freeze to 18 months, allowing municipalities to collect necessary funds for housing enabling infrastructure.Eliminating the refund for fees on applications that require additional time was also welcomed by OBCM as we recognize some applications are complex and require more time to assess.OBCM supports the rolling-out of a central and standard data collection system and that more municipalities will be included in this data. We have stated that a one-size-fits-all approach will not work and that any deviation from a “growth pays for growth” model would shift financial burden to the property tax base without considerable supplements from the provincial and federal governments.Further adjustments to the legislation are needed, such as reinstating housing services and land costs as eligible development charge expenses, as municipalities risk being underfunded by $4 billion over the next decade.