Province Introducing Legislation and New Funding to Cut Red Tape and Speed Up Home Construction in Partnership with Municipalities
NEWS
May 13, 2025
BEAMSVILLE – Today, Ontario is introducing the Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025, to help speed up the construction of new homes and infrastructure, including by streamlining development processes and reducing costs in close partnership with municipalities. The province is also increasing its historic investment in housing-enabling infrastructure by adding $400 million in immediate funding to the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund for a total of nearly $2.3 billion over four years across the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund.
"We are keeping the hope of home ownership alive for young people across Ontario and in Niagara," said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West.
"Our government's significant investment in infrastructure is helping to lay the foundations for more housing, built faster, so the next generation can achieve the same dream of homeownership as the last."
"We are taking bold action to protect Ontario in the face of economic uncertainty by speeding up construction so we can lower housing costs and keep workers on the job," said Hon. Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
"The legislation we are tabling today responds to recommendations and requests from municipal leaders and will help build the homes and infrastructure Ontario needs."
The Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025, if passed, and related actions would:
- Spur new construction by simplifying and standardizing development charges based on measures that were developed in consultation with municipalities, including measures that some municipalities have already implemented. Ontario will work with municipalities to continue simplifying, streamlining and reducing costly local development fees that can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of new homes.
- Remove barriers for Canadian manufacturers who want to introduce innovative materials, systems and building designs that could reduce construction costs and expedite projects.
- Streamline and improve planning and delivery for transit-oriented communities, creating more jobs and housing options near transit.
- Reduce costs and speed up project approvals with consistent building construction standards across Ontario municipalities.
- Significantly speed up getting shovels in the ground to build major transit projects by extending measures in the Building Transit Faster Act, 2020 to all provincial transit projects.
- Simplify, streamline and bring consistency and transparency to development applications, land use planning approvals, and contents of municipal official plans. These changes would make it easier and faster to build residential, commercial and industrial buildings within and across Ontario's municipalities.
- Ontario's road building standards can differ across the province's 444 municipalities, causing unnecessary cost and delays. The province will consult with municipalities and stakeholders by fall 2025 on framework legislation for greater harmonization and clarified governance of municipal standards, which will lead to cost savings through more efficient design and technical review, greater construction efficiencies and streamlined procurement processes.
"I commend MPP Oosterhoff and the Ontario government for their leadership in advancing faster and more affordable housing solutions," said Sandra Easton, Mayor of the Town of Lincoln.
"The funding and measures announced today offer vital support to municipalities and reflect our shared commitment to reducing red tape and ensuring housing is within reach for all Ontarians. In Lincoln, we remain focused on accelerating the development of homes and infrastructure - today's announcement is a meaningful step forward for us and municipalities across Ontario in addressing critical housing needs."
"We are pulling out all the stops to protect and build up Ontario during this time of economic uncertainty," said Hon. Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure.
"Our expanded investments will ensure we can build even more homes, create more jobs and protect the most critical infrastructure that people depend on every day."
Through Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, the province has already allocated nearly $1.3 billion for water and waste-water infrastructure projects that will enable the construction of approximately 600,000 homes. This includes previous investments of over $23 million to build water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure to support the construction of new homes at the Prudhomme's Landing development site in the Town of Lincoln and over $20 million to support home construction in Welland.
Ontario has also invested approximately $700 million in the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund. Combined with the new $400 million ($315 million for the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and $85 million for the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund), this brings the new total investment to nearly $2.3 billion.
Through the Building Faster Fund, the government has also provided municipalities with $286.8 million for community and housing-enabling infrastructure last year, along with $120 million dedicated for small, rural and Northern municipalities without housing targets which is being delivered through the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund. This is in addition to the $1 billion in flexible loans for housing-enabling water infrastructure projects available to municipalities through the Infrastructure Ontario Loan Program.
Quick Facts:
- The Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025 and other proposed measures consist of twenty initiatives that would accelerate provincial permitting and approvals.
- The proposals work together with measures proposed in Bill 2, the Protect Ontario through Free Trade within Canada Act, 2025, and Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025, as part of the government's plan to protect Ontario by strengthening internal trade relationships, supporting faster provincial development and supporting buying local.
- Ontario is currently investing nearly $1.3 billion through first and second intakes of the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund to support seventy-seven water infrastructure projects that will help municipalities build approximately 600,000 new homes across the province. The Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund helps municipalities build, repair, rehabilitate and expand critical drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.
- Ontario is investing $175 million through the Health and Safety Water Stream of the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund to help municipalities and First Nations build, repair and expand the capacity of aging water, flood and erosion infrastructure.
- The province is also currently investing $400 million through the Housing-Enabling Core Servicing Stream of the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund to support the construction of up to 160,000 new homes and ensure these growing communities are connected to reliable roadways. The Municipal Housing Infrastructure Fund provides funding for core infrastructure projects that support growing and developing communities.
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