Please accept these comments…

Please accept these comments in objection to Bill 23.

The proposals for changes to the development charges act alongside the stated goal of increasing housing affordability and Minister Clark’s comments about the balance in municipal development charges reserves indicate a severe misunderstanding of the existing development charges calculation and how DCs are used in infrastructure planning and will result in increased housing costs for all Ontarians to the benefit of developers profits.

The DC calculation is very simple at its most basic level - figure out how much funding is needed, divide that by the population it will service, collect that amount at building permit. Not only has this provincial government restricted the timely cash flow for these funds by requiring instalment payments for specific forms of development through Bill 108, now Bill 23 proposes to reduce what a municipality can collect in the first 4 years of a new DC by-law. Recall from the basic calculation of the DC rate that this reduction means that municipalities will not be collecting sufficient funds to pay for the infrastructure costs that were a part of that basic calculation. This infrastructure is required in order to service development, without infrastructure development cannot occur. Therefore, this shortfall between the basic DC calculation and what can be collected under Bill 23 needs to be funded from somewhere. That somewhere is going to end up being every property tax and rate payer.

Ontarians are struggling with the cost of living, the majority of the working class cannot afford to pay for these costs. The majority of the working class is struggling already.

In addition, there is no indication that reducing fees to developers will have any impact on the sale price / profit margin that developers will make. In order for these proposals to be effective in achieving the goal of increasing the pace and price of housing it is necessary to demonstrate that one will lead to the other and there is not.

Further, there are proposals within Bill 23 that would see developments which have already received permits and/or have already locked in their DC rates with a site plan application realize reductions in the amount of DCs that they owe. Please explain how giving money back to those who have already started building will increase the future housing stock because it really appears that the only thing that is being achieved is putting more profit into development.

Ontarians cannot afford Bill 23. Municipalities cannot afford Bill 23.

If the goal is to reduce the price of housing then let the market work out the price of houses and implement a first time buyers program to ensure the relief is provided directly to those who need it. To assist with rental do a similar program.

Better yet, tackle the underlying issue directly and implement a universal income, raise the minimum wage to a living wage, provide public sector workers with cost of living adjustments that reflect the actual costs that they need to cover.

This current system is broken and Bill 23 will make it worse.

Thank you for receiving comments and I truly hope that this Bill does not move forward as written as it will have devastating effects across the working class at the benefit of developer profits.

Thank you,
Lindsay