York Region continues ongoing advocacy efforts to advance critical housing and transit priorities
Newmarket – York Regional Council received an update on The Regional Municipality of York's participation in the Province of Ontario’s 2026 Budget consultation process.
York Region’s 2026 Ontario Budget submission builds on ongoing advocacy for critical provincial funding to deliver water and wastewater infrastructure, unlock additional capacity for new housing development and enable local municipalities to meet provincial housing targets. As in previous years, the Ontario Minister of Finance has offered stakeholders, including York Region, an opportunity to provide input into the Province of Ontario’s 2026 Budget process that took place from December 4, 2025, to January 30, 2026.
“Recent changes to provincial legislation are estimated to result in impacts of almost $1 billion on development charge collections over the next 10 years, constraining York Region’s ability to advance critical housing-enabling infrastructure,” said York Region Chairman and CEO Eric Jolliffe. “Ensuring long-term funding commitments from senior levels of government, including our partners at the Province, will allow York Region to reduce reliance on development charge collections to move forward with priority projects to support future growth and help meet the provincial target to build 1.5 million new homes by 2031.”
As part of the Regional Council-endorsed 2026 capital plan, $2.2 billion in critical investments from senior levels of government are needed to support housing and transit initiatives, including $216 million to meet the Province’s one-third share toward approximately 1,345 community housing units and $1.9 billion for two new bus rapid transit projects along Jane Street in the City of Vaughan and Highway 7 East in the City of Markham.
“Without a permanent funding source, the ability to safeguard necessary health and human services without further property tax increases is limited,” said King Township Mayor Steve Pellegrini, Chair of Finance and Administration. “Dedicated provincial support is crucial to maintain resilient emergency and public health systems and deliver vital services within our communities.”
Funding requests to the Province were previously outlined in the 2025 Ontario Budget Consultation, Regional Council’s June 2025 resolutions, participation at the August 2025 Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference and the 2026 Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Rural Leaders Conference, as well as the approved 2026 Regional Budget.
York Region is committed to ongoing advocacy efforts to advance Regional priorities and will continue to monitor provincial budget announcements, expected in spring 2026.
For additional information, please visit york.ca/Budget
The Regional Municipality of York consists of nine local cities and towns and provides a variety of programs and services to 1.29 million residents and 57,000 businesses with approximately 624,000 employees. More information about York Region’s key service areas is available at york.ca/RegionalServices
