The Regional Municipality of York taking action to help address housing challenges
Newmarket – York Regional Council has reviewed several actions aimed at helping to address York Region’s housing challenges at a Special Council Meeting held on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
“In our continued effort to address housing challenges, several short and longer-term measures are being considered to help reduce housing costs and encourage development of affordable housing options, specifically purpose-built rental units,” said York Region Chairman and CEO Eric Jolliffe. “As we begin to action this important work, we look forward to the collective efforts of all partners and levels of senior government to ensure every resident has access to affordable and safe housing.”
Along with strong advocacy work for funding from the federal and provincial governments on housing initiatives, Regional Council approved immediate action to defer development charges on high-rise buildings for up to four years, with no interest being charged for the first two years. Development charges for low-rise buildings are also to be deferred, interest free, until the building permit is issued. These incentives are now in effect at the Region.
Regional Council discussed the following additional options below. Staff will bring a report in June 2025 for consideration on these actions:
New Discounts for Rental: New rentals could have development charges deferred indefinitely, provided they agree to operate as a non-luxury rental for a minimum of 40 years. If approved, this would apply retroactively to April 3, 2025. This initiative aims to increase the rental supply across all nine local municipalities.
First-Time Homebuyers’ Development Charges-Equivalent Rebate: York Region will advocate for funding from federal and provincial governments towards a potential First-Time Homebuyers’ Development Charges-Equivalent Rebate. This initiative would directly pass on savings to new homeowners, making home ownership more accessible.
Repeal of Interest Policy on Frozen Development Charges: York Region will advocate for funding from federal and provincial governments towards the potential repeal of its interest policy on frozen development charges. This initiative is intended to reduce developer and homebuyer costs, making housing projects more viable and affordable.
“Identifying and approving options that are implemented quickly is important to improve affordability across the housing market,” said Township of King Mayor Steve Pellegrini, Chair of Finance and Administration. “Any approved options taking longer to implement will be evaluated ahead of York Region’s upcoming 2026 Development Charges Bylaw Update.”
Development charges are a cost recovery tool municipalities use to help fund vital growth-related, housing enabling infrastructure, including water, wastewater, roads and transit. In York Region, development charges fund about two thirds of growth infrastructure within the 2025 Capital Plan.
At Regional Council, Benjamin Tal, Deputy Chief Economist, CIBC World Markets, shared an overview of the housing situation and challenges. The Building Industry and Land Association (BILD) provided a deputation, voicing their support for the proposed actions and advocacy efforts.
While these measures provide some relief to the existing housing challenges, everyone has a role to play and advocacy work with all levels of government will proceed. York Region will continue to seek increased, direct and predictable funding to support these housing challenges, initiatives and incentives.
Visit york.ca/DevelopmentChargeImpacts for more details on how York Region is working to support housing affordability initiatives.
The Regional Municipality of York consists of nine local cities and towns and provides a variety of programs and services to over 1.25 million residents and 57,000 businesses with more than 629,000 employees. More information about the Region’s key service areas is available at york.ca/RegionalServices
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Media Contact:
Stephanie Crowley, Corporate Communications,
The Regional Municipality of York
Phone: 289-763-2598
Email: @email
