Ontario to audit municipal funding gap due to housing law, pledges to cover shortfall
Ontario is promising to make municipalities "whole," if they can't fund housing infrastructure and services due to a new provincial law.
Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark wrote to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to say the province was launching a third-party audit of municipal finances in "select" communities, focused on reserve funds and the fees housing developers pay.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
"It is critical that municipalities are able to fund and contract road, water, sewer, and other housing enabling infrastructure and services that our growing communities need," Clark wrote.
"There should be no funding shortfall for housing enabling infrastructure as a result of Bill 23, provided municipalities achieve and exceed their housing pledge levels and growth targets."
The government has not yet identified which municipalities would be subject to the audits but is pledging to work with the association and the Ontario Big City Mayors to come up with a list. Clark wrote separately to Toronto Mayor John Tory with the promise of an audit and keeping the city "whole."
Association president Colin Best said Clark's commitment was a "welcome and very positive development."
"AMO is very pleased with the government's recognition of the need to ensure municipalities' access to revenues to support the joint provincial-municipal goal of increasing housing supply and affordability," he wrote in a statement
Steve Clark, Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, speaks to journalists at the Queens Park Legislature, in Toronto on Wednesday, November 16, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
The bill passed Monday would, in part, freeze, reduce and exempt fees developers pay on certain builds such as affordable housing.
Those fees go to municipalities and are then used to pay for services to support new homes, such as road and sewer infrastructure. Communities across the province have expressed concern that they will have to raise property taxes to fund those services.
When it introduced the bill last month, the Ford government identified 29 municipalities in which the bulk of new housing will need to be built in order to reach its goal of 1.5 million new homes in 10 years. Ontario will require them to develop "pledges" of how they will meet their assigned targets. Toronto, for example, will need 285,000 new homes.
The association has said the changes to development charges will leave communities short $5 billion and see taxpayers footing the bill, either in the form of higher property taxes or service cuts.
But Clark has said municipalities have billions of development charge revenues in reserve and the additional costs on new homes must be "reined in."
Clark said that since 2010, municipal fees and taxes on new homebuyers in Toronto have increased by close to 600 per cent.
He said he hopes municipalities and the province can work together on the audit.
"We are committing to ensuring municipalities are kept whole for any impact to their ability to fund housing enabling infrastructure because of Bill 23," Clark wrote.
Clark also told Tory that Ontario would cover up to one-third of the city's operating deficit for this year, which it estimates at $703 million.
"It is critical that you use this support and the time it provides to take action to address Toronto's forward-looking operating pressures," Clark wrote.
Tory said that the federal government now needs to commit funding.
"(We) need to have the government of Canada address its clear commitment to assist with what is an exclusively COVID-19 related shortfall being experienced in a more substantial way by Canada's largest city, with Canada's largest urban economy, Canada's largest transit system by far, and the biggest regional challenge sheltering people, including refugees," the mayor wrote in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
LIVE B.C. seeks ban on using drugs in 'all public spaces,' shifting approach to decriminalization
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
Air traveller complaints to Canadian Transportation Agency hit new high
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
U.S. flight attendant indicted in attempt to record teen girl in airplane bathroom
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid says he has Bell's palsy
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
AFN chief says Air Canada offered a 15% discount after her headdress was mishandled
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.