Ontario signs new housing and transit agreement with feds
The provincial and federal government have announced a new partnership that aims to make it cheaper to buy homes: The Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build.
Over the next decade, the two governments will together dedicate $8.8 billion towards the new initiatives.
On the housing front, the two key pillars of the partnership are an effort to reduce municipal development charges for homebuilders, and an expanded sales tax rebate for homebuyers.
At Monday’s announcement, Prime Minister Mark Carney characterized the new partnership as one “that leverages our different capacities, our different jurisdictional responsibilities to achieve the same goals: more homes, lower housing costs, tens of thousands of new careers in the skilled trades.”
Many municipalities across the province use development charges as a way to help fund infrastructure projects, including public transit and road repairs.
“If you are in the business, you know about them, and if you’re buying a home, you pay for them,” Carney explained.
Funds from the partnership program will incentivize municipalities to reduce or eliminate their development charges, filling in the funding gaps through subsidy money.
At the announcement, Premier Doug Ford said municipalities who were willing to cut development charges, or had already done so would receive greater infrastructure and housing funding than those which did not.
“To all my great 444 mayors and people in the municipalities, if you don’t cut development charges, you aren’t getting any money,” said the premier. “But if you do, we will be there to support you.”
On the flip side, the new partnership also promises expanded rebates for homebuyers on the provincial Harmonized Sales Tax (HST.)
Homebuyers will receive a full rebate for the 13 per cent HST on homes worth up to $1 million.
On homes worth between $1 million and $1.5 million, homebuyers will now be able to secure the maximum rebate of $130,000.
The partnership also promises to support new infrastructure projects in southern Ontario, including a planned waterfront transit line in Toronto, the Ontario GO train expansion, and the Alto High-Speed Rail project linking Toronto to Quebec City.
