CHBA applauds federal-Ontario plan to support municipal development charge reductions

March 30, 2026 – OTTAWA, ON – The Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) welcomes today’s federal announcement to work with Ontario to support the reduction of municipal development charges (DCs) by up to 50% in municipalities covering 80% of the province’s population for three years. Using its Build Communities Strong Fund, the federal government will cost-match with Ontario for a total of $8.8 billion over 10 years, focused on housing-enabling infrastructure projects. More deals with other provinces are expected to come.

This announcement comes following years of advocacy by CHBA and HBAs across the country showcasing the negative impact that skyrocketing development taxes have had on housing affordability and supply, while imploring governments at all levels to find alternatives to development taxes. Most recently, CHBA commissioned a study by Abacus Data that found 51% of Canadians believe development taxes place too much of the cost of infrastructure on new home buyers.

“Development charges have risen more than 700 per cent over the past 25 years and have reached unsustainable levels,” said CHBA CEO Kevin Lee. “For years, CHBA has been advocating for change through policy recommendations to the federal government to use federal levers to address the problem. The issue has also been a key feature of CHBA’s Urban Council discussions, and was a primary focus of CHBA’s Day on the Hill last month. Today, we are finally starting to see some relief. We applaud the federal government for stepping up to support new housing for Canadians who have been locked out of homeownership due to affordability pressures, which have been made worse in many municipalities by out-of-control development taxes. We look forward to more deals being struck with other provinces to do the same, supporting the infrastructure needed to create more housing supply, while also targeting development charges in those regions where they have grown excessively.”

This announcement comes four days following the introduction of Bill C-26, which earmarks $1.723 billion for provinces and territories to put toward measures that support housing supply and affordability for homeownership. Ontario is the first to come to a deal with the federal government to use its portion of funding to fully remove HST on new housing for all buyers for one year. CHBA implores other provinces to follow suit and directly reduce the tax burden on buyers of new homes.

“The total tax burden on new housing construction can make up to 30% of the price of a new home in some communities,” said Lee. “Targeting both sales tax and development charges have been at the top of CHBA’s list to address housing affordability. It will be important for other provinces to follow in Ontario’s footsteps to ensure that their allocations of federal funding directly and meaningfully improve ownership housing supply and affordability for Canadians. Removing tax is the single most efficient way to do that.”

More information on CHBA’s full suite of recommendations to the federal government to help improve housing supply and affordability outcomes is available at affordability.ca.

 

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About the Canadian Home Builders’ Association

The Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) is the voice of the residential construction industry in Canada, representing some 8,500 member firms across the country. Our membership spans new home builders, renovators, developers, trade contractors, building material manufacturers and suppliers, lenders, and other professionals in the housing sector.