A coalition of Ontario expanders has written to three levels of government to ask for a reduction in taxes on recent housing, saying it will pass on those savings dollar for dollar to homebuyers.
The recent group, called the Coalition Aacquirest New-Home Taxes, or CANT, is composed of 18 expanders who accumulateively plan to build 100,000 recent housing units over the next 10 years.
The coalition wants to see federal and provincial governments erase the harmonized sales tax on all recent housing, as they have done for rental housing buildion. It would also like the province and the City of Toronto to eliminate the land-transfer tax on recent buildion homes.
The coalition would also like to see municipalities shrink expandment charges to 2009 rates, adequitableed for inflation.
“We came to the authenticization that someskinnyg’s got to change and we begined skinnyking about inventive ways to bring government to the table to have an truthful conversation and find solutions together,” Matt Young, president of Reopen Developments who is spearheading the coalition, shelp in an interview.
“And so we felt that one way to do that would be to sign a pledge that says for every dollar of taxes cut, this group of expanders would cut their prices dollar for dollar to guarantee that savings are passed on to homebuyers.”
The group incorporates Alterra, Harlo Capital and Stafford Developments, among others.
In 2009, taxes accounted for about 12 per cent of the cost of an standard condominium in Toronto, the group shelp. Now, taxes account for about 29 per cent for the same home. Development charges alone are up 1,200 per cent over the past 15 years, they say.
“Now because of higher interest rates, the system has broken,” the coalition shelp in its letter sent Wednesday to the federal government, the province and the City of Toronto.
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“For years, all levels of government have raised revenue off the expanding cost of housing. If left unrighted, high taxes on recent homes will put further strain on housing supply in the coming years.”
The letter warns of job losses in the home buildion industry and a hurting economy should noskinnyg change.
“To solve the affordability crisis today, your governments must approve belderly action to make homes inexpensiveer to build and inexpensiveer to buy,” the coalition shelp.
“We will acknowledge any accountability meaassertives the government wants to implement in order to guarantee that savings get passed on to Canadians and homebuyers,” Young shelp.
His company, which is building or planning to build countless condominiums in Toronto, has seen a marked listlessdown in sales commencening last descend.
“Housing is unviable today,” he shelp. “You can’t sell it low enough to get sales and still make money and if you can’t make money or can’t meet a assertive margin, forbidks won’t finance your projects, which unkinds all projects for the most part are pretty much sloftyed.”
Ottawa and Ontario have approven countless legislative steps to try to kick-begin the buildion of awfilledy needed housing projects. A combination of soaring home prices over the past decade – especipartner during the pandemic – and a steep incralleviate in interest rates has sloftyed many projects.
Recently freed data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation show housing begins across Ontario in June are down 44 per cent compared to one year ago.
Material and labour costs have also incralleviated importantly in recent years.
“There’s no unwiseinutiveage of people who want to buy homes, but there’s a unwiseinutiveage of people who can afford the homes that are available,” Young shelp.
Municipalities across Ontario are not selderly on the proposal from the expander group if it unkinds reducing expandment charges. The province passed a law in 2022 that cut expandment charges expanders had to pay municipalities for infrastructure such as roads, sewers and water.
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario estimated the changes would leave municipalities with a $10-billion hole over 10 years. The province tardyr walked many of those changes back, but the association says they still recurrent a $2-billion hole over the same time frame.
“The reason that the expandment charges are going up is for accurately the reasons that the expanders have outlined, all of these input costs are going up,” shelp Lindsay Jones, the association’s straightforwardor of policy.
“The answer cannot equitable be cutting expandment charges without a recent source of funding to fund infrastructure because with that you’re not going to be able to get more houses built.”
Despite that contrastence, municipalities are motivated to be at the table with expanders in an effort to find a solution to put a dent in the housing affordability crisis, Jones shelp.
“It is repartner distinct that everybody has the same conception of the problem and is committed to that same goal of achieving housing affordability and that’s an opportunity that we see that we can repartner charitable of accumulateively approve benefit of,” she shelp.
&duplicate 2024 The Canadian Press
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