Hamilton’s Green Building Standards are no more, City Hall will be required to allow even more housing along the planned LRT corridor, and will have to follow new provincial rules regarding what studies and information are required in development applications.
The re-elected Ontario Conservative government is tabling new legislation later today, the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025. It says the Act will harmonize building and planning rules across Ontario’s 444 municipalities.
Application requirements, building and design standards, and materials can vary between municipalities.
Development charges are inconsistent across the province.
At a time when the federal government and other provinces are creating standardized housing plans to lower the cost of building, the uncertainty of different local rules will interfere with those efforts.
DC Charges Now Deferred Until Occupancy
The City of Hamilton will no longer be able to charge development charges when it issues building permits. Under the new rules, all municipalities must wait until new housing is occupied to collect DCs.
Presently, developers need to use debt financing to pay DCs upfront. This results in interest payments for the builder, which are passed on to the new homeowner.
No DCs on Long-Term Care Homes
“We need 56,000 to 60,000 refurbished or new [LTC] beds in this province,” Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack stated this morning when announcing the new Act. “We’re going to reduce the burden of those costs by eliminating DCs on LTC homes.”
The Province issued a Minister’s Zoning Order at 290 Fennell Avenue West, the former Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital site, to permit an LTC home.
No Requirement for Cities to Cut DCs
Flack confirmed the provincial government is not capping DCs but hopes other municipalities will follow Vaughan and Mississauga’s lead by voluntarily reducing fees.
“I’m hoping they take the lead and follow by example,” he said. “We’re going to continue to support our municipal partners with needed infrastructure to get water, wastewater, and roads in construction.”
Hamilton is in the early stages of a 60-day consultation period regarding possible DC incentives, following an April motion by Ward 1 Councillor Maureen Wilson that requires staff to consult with industry.
Minister’s Press Conference in Vaughan – Where DCs Were Reduced
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack held a press conference this morning to summarize the changes. (YouTube replay)
He chose to make the announcement in Vaughan, a municipality that recently reduced its very high development charges by 50 percent.
Standing beside Flack was Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish. Parrish was elected on June 10, 2024. She quickly formed a housing task force, which first met on July 10 and issued its report on January 22, 2025.
The task force’s recommendations included streamlining processes, changing the date of development charge collection to occupancy, and fully waiving development charges for qualifying family-sized apartment units.
Mississauga Council also created a new property tax class to reduce taxes by 35 percent for new rental buildings that meet affordability and unit-mix thresholds.
In the first 100 days following Mississauga’s changes, they report “an expected 11,600 residential units moving towards building permit application in the next few months.”
The Association of Ontario Municipalities and the Ontario Home Builders Association were also part of the press conference.
Hamilton Green Building Standards are No More
Hamilton City Council was scheduled last week to implement new residential development standards that require buildings to use heat pump systems, be designed for solar readiness, be ready for electric vehicles, use native or adapted species for landscaping, be Dark Sky compliant, and have green or cool roofs.
Council voted 12 to 3 to delay the implementation of the Hamilton Green Building Standards pending more consultation.
The City of Toronto’s green building standards are the subject of a court challenge.
Hamilton LRT Corridor Zoning
The Minister’s press release states the Act will “streamline and improve planning and delivery for transit-oriented communities, creating more jobs and housing options near transit.”
Depending on the wording in the Act, changes may impact a proposed 12-storey rental building at 1570 Main Street West, approximately 600 metres west of the planned McMaster LRT stop.
Province Promises $400-Million in Funding to Support Municipal Water Infrastructure
Flack says $400 million in “immediate funding” is being added to the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund (HEWSF) and Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund (MHIP).
No details of how the funding will be allocated was provided today.
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Published: May 12, 2025
Last updated: May 12, 2025
Author: Joey Coleman
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