Developer charges slashed up to 25% for rental builds to meet province’s housing goals in Brampton

Companies looking to build in Brampton will soon get a break to their bottom line when the city reduces its development charge rates – a move that could have taxpayers making up the difference.

Brampton City Council on Wednesday approved changes to several bylaws that set rates for development charges – fees paid by builders that pay for infrastructure to support new developments.

The updated bylaws will see a 7 per cent drop in developer charges for single and semi-detached homes ($65,404), apartment buildings (between $22,763 and $36,989) and industrial builds ($114.19).

Some exemptions for intensification of existing housing and rental developments include a drop of up to 25 per cent for three-bedroom builds, 20 per cent for two-bedroom projects and 15 per cent for “all other quantities of bedrooms” for rental housing projects where all units will be used as rentals.

The city has already frozen all DCs for major office developments.

Shaking development charge rates is one part of the province’s push to build 1.5 million new homes across Ontario within 10 years, including some 113,000 new households in Brampton.

Videos

Read More

A phase-in for DCs was originally part of Bill 23, which a report from the region in 2022 found would cost Brampton some $440 million, as well as another $2 billion in additional infrastructure costs for roads, water, schools and childcare to support development growth.

Bill 185 scrapped the five-year phase-in to fast-track housing builds, and municipalities are being pushed to cut their rates while construction, material and labour costs are all going up.

According to the 2024 Development Charges Study, DCs for single and semi-detached homes in Brampton could jump from $53,803 to $70,000, while row houses and other multi-dwelling units would increase from $39,639 to $55,222 over five years. The city has already frozen all DCs for major office developments.

The controversial housing plan could cost up to $8 billion in Brampton, according to city staff, while a report from the Region of Peel said the bill could actually reduce the amount of affordable housing stock set to be built over the next 10 years.

Brampton will also soon take over Region of Peel services like roads, garbage collection and water at a cost to taxpayers under recommendations from the provincially-appointed Peel Transition Board.

The board’s findings haven’t been made public but Caledon says the move could result in a more than 70 per cent tax hike.

The new development charge rates are set to take effect on Aug. 2.