Funding Cuts & Accountability Among Burlington's Bill 23 Concerns Outlined in Mayor's Letter to Minister

Mayor's Office
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Earlier this week, I sent a letter -- as a member of the Ontario's Big City Mayors caucus -- to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Hon. Steve Clark, outlining the City of Burlington's concerns with Bill 23, More Homes Faster Act, 2022. Among those concerns include:

  • legislated funding cuts to municipalities;
  • accountability for all partners working to build more homes, especially attainable/affordable housing; and
  • building housing for Ontarians is too important to rush, therefore, Bill 23 should be paused and more fulsome dialogue with municipalities is needed.

To read the full letter, click here (OBCM - Letter for OBCM Mayors on Bill 23 - COB) or scroll further down this post.

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Mayor Marianne Meed WardNovember 23, 2022Dear Minister Clark,As a member of Ontario’s Big City Mayors (OBCM) I am writing to you today to once again encourage you to hear our concerns about Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022. OBCM has sent you a letter outlining our key concerns with this new legislation and its impact on our municipalities. A summary of our top concerns as outlined in this letter were:

  1. Legislated Funding Cuts to Municipalities - Changes to the Development Charges Act and Planning Act that will result in billions of dollars worth of infrastructure deficits for municipalities. Municipalities are not able to take on the cost of development with these proposed changes as we have always used the “growth pays for growth” model therefore the financial burden would fall to the existing tax base. In line with the asset management planning that is mandated by the province for municipalities, the DC’s collected are determined through background studies to meet our infrastructure needs. The changes to parkland contribution rates also impacts our municipalities financially as we do not have the funds budgeted to secure significant and safe outdoor spaces for our residents. We are requesting that the proposed changes which have a significant financial impact on municipalities should be delayed and put on the agenda for the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team that was created by the province earlier this year.
  2. Accountability for All Partners - Our municipalities have been working hard to ensure we are building more homes, especially affordable ones and have been making progress on meeting our targets. Homebuyers deserve accountability throughout the home building process and these impacts and others such as waiting on ministry approvals or incomplete applications from builders, can cause a significant delay to our municipal building targets. We are requesting that the province require all partners, not just municipalities to sign pledges outlining the actions each partner is responsible for to ensure they are doing their part to help reach these building targets. It is important for all partners to be held accountable if targets cannot be met, especially through such unprecedented outside forces.
  3. Building Housing for Ontarians Is Too Important to Rush - The timing of the bill following the recent municipal election has resulted in our municipalities finding it difficult to put together the necessary information for reports needed for our new councils. In OBCM alone (the mayors of the province’s 29 largest municipalities) there have been 12 new mayors elected and many more new councillors. These new councils are all being sworn in this week and next, and need more time to be able to respond to the various recommendations and regulations that will make a significant impact on their term in office. We are requesting that the government extend the comment periods for these postings to allow for full municipal participation on such an important piece of legislation.

Along with these concerns expressed by OBCM and our member mayors, I also want to emphasize some concerns that are important to the City of Burlington.Burlington is absolutely committed to supporting the creation of more housing and more diverse housing options. Our new Official Plan, approved with modifications by the Halton Region in November 2020 and currently under appeal, supports opportunities for the accommodation of a wide range of housing options in Burlington.  Further, the recently completed Burlington’s Housing Strategy provides a roadmap for addressing local housing needs and increasing attainable housing options that meet the needs of all current and future residents at all stages of life and at all income levels. The housing strategy highlights the City’s commitment to meeting resident’s housing needs and the critical importance of partnership with other levels of government, the development community and residents.

  • Burlington has 21,700 units under review, so we are well on our way to achieving the province's allocation of housing to Burlington of 29000. Unfortunately, many of these are tied up in lengthy delays at the Ontario Land Tribunal so we cannot predict when they will come to market.
  • Burlington staff are calculating the impact to the taxpayers of the change, but the Association of Municipalities of Ontario has calculated a $1 billion annual loss overall to Ontario municipalities.
  • Development Charges reserve funds are allocated to specific projects based on the background studies done. They are a revolving fund with money coming in from new homes and going out when the expenditures for which they've been earmarked are realized. For major, multi-year projects (for example a new community centre) the funds will accrue over a period of time and be spent when the cost is realized. Burlington's reserves decreased in the most recent Treasurer's Statement - we are using the funds for what they were allocated for, namely community services that new residents need like developing parks, community centres and transit.
  • Development Charges have been described by some as a “user tax” – downloaded to the buyer. In fact, it is a cost of doing business, no different than buying land or materials. And it pays for critical community services that new residents need. DCs and other municipal fees account for less than 10% of the cost of housing. Cutting DCs simply adds to the profit margins of for-profit developers, or the profits of investors when they buy a home to resell. Further, DCs never fully cover the cost of growth – they cover about 80%. So the general tax base is already subsidizing the new home buyer.
  • The proposed changes to park dedication will have significant impacts to a municipality’s ability to acquire much needed land for parks especially in intensifying areas such as is the case in Burlington.
  • In clearest terms, Bill 23 benefits for-profit developers and the first purchaser – which may be an investment buyer, not a homeowner, while bankrupting municipalities and our ability to fund the services new residents need. It will not meaningfully address either supply or affordability:
  • The potential savings are small – less than 10%.
  • There is no guarantee these savings would be passed on to the buyer. Nothing in the legislation requires this.
  • The initial “savings” only accrue to the first home buyer. Upon resale, market value prevails. There is nothing in the legislation that caps the amount charged on resale.
  • The first purchaser of the home may not be someone needing to get into the housing market. It could be an investor, buying for capital gains, rental or to park their money. Nothing in the legislation requires the buyer to be a first-time home buyer.
  • Bill 23 does nothing to get more homes built faster. Development Charges and other government fees don’t prevent homes from getting built quickly, and in fact have nothing to do with increasing supply. Policies that address labour shortages, supply of materials, interest rates and permit processing timelines – these will better address supply. Burlington is currently reviewing our permit process with a view to speed up applications. We are doing our part.

If the bill goes through, we will show the tax increase related to these costs separately on the tax bill, so they know the impact of Bill 23. Other mayors/municipalities are talking about doing the same.Along with my OBCM colleagues, I am encouraged to see that your government is taking on the issue of affordable and attainable housing, and we look forward to working with you on this important matter. We want to work together to help build safe and secure communities in a way that benefits our residents and aligns with the goals of our municipalities. Working together, as partners we can achieve or exceed provincial targets through local planning and regulation that suits our unique local context and character.We also ask that you work with us to address the ongoing issue of chronic homelessness, safety and mental health that has become a crisis in many of our communities and we urge you to meet with us to discuss this matter.I look forward to hearing from you on this matter and discussing further how The City of Burlington can work with the province on building affordable, safe and thriving communities together.Sincerely,Marianne Meed WardMayor City of Burlington cc:Premier Doug Ford (premier@ontario.ca)Ontario’s Big City Mayors (info@obcm.ca)MPP Natalie Pierre, Burlington (natalie@nataliepierrempp.ca)MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos, Oakville North-Burlington (effie.triantafilopoulos@pc.ola.org)The Hon. Parm Gill, Minister of Red Tape Reduction and Milton MPP (parm.gill@pc.ola.org)Tim Commisso, City Manager, City of Burlington RELATED LINKS:

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