Proposal To Change Development Charge Exemptions For Affordable Housing

On September, 28, 2023, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) introduced Bill 134, which proposes a new definition of "affordable" for the purposes of exemptions from development charges under the Development Charges Act, 1997. The exemptions and discounts for affordable housing were first enacted on November 28, 2023 pursuant to Bill 23 (as we wrote about here), but are not yet in force

This proposal, if implemented, takes a different approach to defining affordability more in line with the current Provincial Policy Statement. The proposed definition focusses on the ability of households to pay, as opposed to only looking at what the market is asking. The changes, if adopted, will provide an exemption from development charges for those developments which meet the new definitions.