The City of Burlington is looking to kick-start residential construction in a slow market, aiming to be the first municipality in Ontario to temporarily remove residential development charges.
If approved, this plan would waive the fees for a two-year period, hopefully encouraging developers to begin new projects.
Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed-Ward mentioned that there have been only seven housing starts this year.
There aren’t many cranes up in the sky building homes in Burlington. A condo project on Fairview Street that’s currently being built was sold three years ago, but now there’s no new construction happening.
“In fact we just had a condo project on Appleby Line cancelled, they don’t have the buyers, they can’t make it work,” the mayor stated.
The City of Burlington is now moving forward with plans to temporarily eliminate residential development charges for two years as part of an effort to stimulate home building.
The team behind the project on Fairview Street said it’s the first time in their 60-year history that they have no upcoming projects lined up. Typically, taxes and fees account for thirty percent of a home’s total price.
“There are no sales happening right now, we need consumer confidence back now in a big way, and we need all three levels of government to step up immediately,” Vince Molinaro from the Molinaro Group expressed.
If passed by council, Burlington will be the first city in Ontario to pause 100 percent of development fees related to residential construction temporarily.
<p“Right now there are virtually no sales happening in Burlington and Southern Ontario and housing starts have fallen off a cliff. So this is less about home builders and more about thousands of people employed in this sector,” said Michael Collins-Williams, CEO of the West End Home Builders’ Association.
The City collected $6.9 million from development fees last year. The mayor hopes that both provincial and federal governments will help cover the lost revenue.
“We are not in normal times; we are in a crisis and we have to behave that way,” noted the mayor.
CHCH News reached out to provincial officials regarding plans for compensating for funds that Burlington may lose but did not receive any response by deadline.
Burlington City Council is set to vote on this matter next week.
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