Regional Council concerned about far-reaching implications of Bill 23

York Regional Council continues to strongly request the province consult with municipalities regarding Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022, to ensure efficient planning for livable and sustainable communities and help reach the province’s goal of building 1.5 million homes.

“The housing affordability crisis is multi-faceted and will involve many partners to mitigate the crisis,” said York Region Chairman and CEO Wayne Emmerson. “While York Region supports the province’s efforts to increase the supply of affordable, attainable and rental housing, we believe that collaboration with municipal partners would provide better insights into how to solve the problem.”

Bill 23 amends nine key provincial statutes with varying levels of impact on municipalities. Most significant of these amendments are proposed changes to the Development Charges Act and The Planning Act, which will limit the ways in which a municipality can finance growth-related infrastructure.

York Region’s 2022 Development Charges Bylaw, passed by Regional Council in May 2022, would have helped fund the construction of over 2,700 new community housing units over the next 20 years, an objective aligned with the province’s Housing Supply Action Plan.

While Regional Council shares the province’s desire to build more housing faster, the exemptions and discounts enacted by Bill 23 would result in a transfer of costs to ratepayers and the tax levy if no alternative funding source is identified and, as currently proposed, will not likely improve housing affordability.

On November 10, 2022, Regional Council passed a resolution requesting the province halt Bill 23 to allow for more fulsome analysis and meaningful consultation and collaboration with Ontario’s municipalities and other stakeholders. However, the province passed the bill on November 28, 2022, with minor amendments.

“York Region continues to support a streamlined approach to housing affordability throughout our communities,” said York Region Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Macgregor. “However, Bill 23 challenges our ability to fund growth-related infrastructure. A shortfall of between 10% to 15% of our anticipated development charges revenues over the next 10 years will make it difficult to deliver the supporting infrastructure.”

Regional Council recognizes the importance of aligning growth and infrastructure to ensure financial sustainability. Growth forecasts are used to determine infrastructure and services required to serve residents and businesses, while planning ensures these services are in the right places at the right time. Regional growth management remains critical for upper-tier municipalities to coordinate growth with infrastructure service delivery and maintain financial sustainability.

York Region continues to work with municipal partners and stakeholders across the province to further understand Bill 23 and to put forward coordinated recommendations to support local planning decisions.

The Regional Municipality of York consists of nine local cities and towns and provides a variety of programs and services to 1.2 million residents and 54,000 businesses with over 650,600 employees. More information about the Region’s key service areas is available at york.ca/regionalservices

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Media Contact:

Masrine Guthrie-Peart, Corporate Communications, The Regional Municipality of York
Phone: 1-877-464-9675, ext. 72441 Cell: 289-231-1031 @email