Newmarket’s mayor and deputy mayor are slamming the idea of cutting development charges as the City of Vaughan has done.
Vaughan council dramatically reduced development charge rates across the board in November, charges developers pay to municipalities to help fund infrastructure required for growth. Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca is now proposing York Region examine a similar policy, with regional council due to discuss ideas like that in the coming months.
But both Newmarket Mayor John Taylor and Deputy Mayor Tom Vegh spoke against the concept during a regional report at council Jan. 20.
“Lowering DCs significantly across the board for every type of built form, and every type of unit, is perhaps one of the most flawed policy directions I’ve seen in my 18-plus years (as a politician),” Taylor told the council.
Vaughan has some of the highest development charges in the GTA, with city figures showing development charges had increased 229 per cent from 2009 to 2021. With the reductions, the charge rate on a low-rise home went from $93,466 to $50,193, a reduction of $44,273 per home.
“Development charges have become an unfair tax burden on homebuyers. Too many of our residents, in particular young families in our community, have seen their dream of buying a home close to where they grew up disappear completely as housing prices have spiralled out of control,” Del Duca said. “We have a housing affordability crisis and it’s time for us to get real about the solutions needed to solve it.”
The move has received some praise from organizations like the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board.
“Taxes on homes in York Region are too high, and Vaughan’s leadership in reducing development charges is a pivotal step toward addressing this issue,” board president Jennifer Pearce said in a news release.
The province has similarly aimed at development charges, introducing Bill 23 to cut them in a bid to spur affordable housing development.
But York Region politicians expressed some skepticism about the concept and what it would cost taxpayers.
Vegh said it is questionable how it connects to affordable housing.
“If you lower it by $10,000, or $20,000, or whatever number you want to choose, it doesn’t mean that the developers are going to run out to their websites, run out to their signs, change them and lower that price also, it just means additional profits. Those homes are sold to the market,” Vegh said, adding lowering development charges could cause “dire consequences” down the line.
Taylor said reducing development charges will not make homes more affordable, and that Vaughan doing this reinforces a message that municipalities have more money than they need.
“It’s a shame we’re having the discussion at the regional table. I’m confident the regional council will not support this direction,” Taylor said.
However, Taylor added that the idea of more targeted measures on development charges, whether reductions and deferrals on truly affordable products or rentals, is something he would support.
