Oakville must be affordable for the next generation, not just the last one. I will move to
fully slash the town’s development charges on two- and three-bedroom townhomes:
the missing middle that young families can actually buy, and that seniors can downsize into
without leaving the community they built. Every dollar cut from these charges is a dollar off
the price of a family home, and it steers builders toward the housing Oakville actually needs.
“So who pays for the roads and parks?” A straight answer.
Not other homebuyers. Ontario’s Development Charges Act forbids
shifting a waived charge onto anyone else’s new home, so no one else’s price goes up.
Not your water and sewer pipes. This covers only the Town’s share,
which was $33,555 per townhouse when the current by-law was set in 2022. Halton Region’s
charges for water, wastewater and regional roads, and the school boards’ charges,
stay exactly as they are.
Money Oakville has been leaving on the table. In June 2026, Ottawa and
Queen’s Park opened an $8.8 billion program that pays for housing infrastructure
in towns that cut development charges. Barrie signed up for up to $129 million.
Oakville did not even apply. I will press both governments to bring
Oakville in, and when the Province rewards Oakville for beating its housing targets (it paid
the Town $13.2 million in 2025), I will put that money toward family homes.
A fixed budget, not a blank cheque. The relief will run on a yearly cap
voted on in public by council, and the savings from my spending audit come first.
I will not quietly put it on your tax bill.
For families, not for builder profits. The saving must appear on the
buyer’s agreement of purchase and sale. A size and price cap keeps out luxury townhomes,
homes flipped within a few years pay the charge back, and the program goes back to council
for review after three years.
And those families pay us back. Each new townhome pays property tax every
year, permanently. A family priced out to Milton pays Oakville nothing. Right now a young
buyer carries this charge inside a 25-year mortgage, with interest. I would rather the Town
share that load than lose another generation.
Sources: Town of Oakville Development Charges By-law 2022-068, Schedule B;
Town of Oakville development charges page; Government of Canada, Development Charge Reduction
Program (June 2026); Town of Oakville, Building Faster Fund release (2025).