GTA Construction News staff writer
The Ontario government introduced an omnibus housing bill Monday, after announcing billions of dollars to reduce development charges in a bid to improve a homebuilding sector.
The Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act will impact municipal official plans, the provincial building code and a suite of highway and transit changes.
Amongst a series of proposals, the government is looking to allow high-quality encumbered lands to count towards municipal parkland dedication requirements. The legislation also builds on previous reforms in Bill 60 and makes further improvements to:
- simplify and standardize official plans
- clarify site plan rules
- modernize minimum lot sizes
- prohibit enhanced development standards
- streamline the Building Code
Housing Minister Rob Flack insisted “it all adds up” and “every little bit helps” in the government’s “transformative” bid to restart a housing sector it once promised could build 1.5 million homes by 2031.
Other new steps include standardizing municipalities’ official plans, reviewing the building code and advancing public water and wastewater corporations to help municipalities amortize infrastructure costs.
The bill also builds on a previous move by the province to block municipalities from imposing their own mandatory climate-friendly standards on building developers and will ban cities from requiring green outdoor standards including landscaping, foliage requirements, soil composition and electric vehicle chargers at street level.
Figures included in the fall economic statement released in November 2025 said Ontario would see 315,000 new housing starts from 2025 to 2028. That figure has dropped by more than 10 per cent to 276,900 in the latest budget.
The figures essentially make Ontario’s goal of 1.5 million new homes by 2031 impossible.
Flack appeared to acknowledge that the goal was no longer achievable on Monday.
“As long as we sell more homes than we did the month before, than we did the year before, and we see a progressive change upwards, I’m happy,” he said.
The Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association (GOHBA) supports the new legislation, saying it reduces red tape and simplifies planning processes to facilitate more affordable new home construction.
“Clarity on, and standardization of, planning processes makes the application process quicker and more reliable, which translates into lower costs to bring housing online,” said Jason Burggaaf, GOHBA’s executive director. “It’s great to have the government’s continued focus on refining the planning regime across Ontario.
“Paired with the morning announcements with the Federal Government to halve Development Charges, this bill will help create the conditions for faster, more predictable approvals,” he added
A comprehensive review of the Building Code has not been done in 40 years, and GOHBA and its members look forward to contributing to that process.
The legislation also contemplates requiring the disclosure of municipal development charges and other government-imposed fees in agreements of purchase and sale for new homes.
“The additional transparency measures to indicate to new home buyers exactly how much of what they are paying is fees and charges is a welcome addition to the bill,” said Burggraaf. “This allows buyers to understand how much of their money is being spent on what when they purchase a home.”
