Gregor Robertson: the federal government wants to reduce total fees
There's an "alphabet soup" of fees on new housing
Ottawa’s infrastructure fund intended to reduce all municipal housing fees — not just development charges. Aidan Chamandy, TorontoToday, December 11. “The federal program aims to cover the cost of building infrastructure normally paid for by municipal fees, from roads and transit to parks and sewers.”
An interesting interview with Gregor Robertson from last week:
On Monday [December 8], TorontoToday spoke with Robertson while he was in Toronto to meet with provincial and territorial housing and infrastructure ministers.
The goal of the meeting was to refine the details of the federal government’s $51-billion Build Communities Strong Fund announced in the 2025 federal budget, specifically the $12-billion stream that promises to lower housing costs by paying for infrastructure that cities usually finance through charges on new construction.
In an exclusive interview, Robertson said the federal fund is “not specific to development charges per se.” Instead, the Build Communities Strong Fund intends to tackle all different types of municipal fees.
“We’re looking at all of the taxes and fees and charges on housing. So that whole bucket, whatever the labels are, we want to see reduced,” he said.
Monday’s session was the first in-person roundtable of federal, provincial and territorial infrastructure ministers since 2023. Robertson said he hopes to ink deals with provinces and territories to get the money flowing to municipalities in the coming weeks and months.
“I want to get agreements and get the money invested as soon as possible. I’m coming from a city background, I want to see things delivered at pace,” he said.
The conditions on the $12 billion stream (over 10 years, or $1.2B per year) in the recent federal budget:
To access funds, provinces and territories must agree to cost-match federal funding and to substantially reduce development charges and not levy other taxes that hinder the housing supply.