BUILDING a Stronger durham Together

Ontario’s recent HST rebate announcement is an important step toward improving housing affordability and increasing housing supply across the province. As builder activity ramps up, it’s essential for members to understand how Tarion will support builders seeking approval to sell and build under the Enhanced HST Rebate Program.

To help keep our members informed, the Durham Region Home Builders’ Association (DRHBA) is sharing an opportunity hosted by the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA). This exclusive, members‑only webinar will feature Tarion staff providing a clear overview of how Tarion processes are being managed during the rollout of the Enhanced HST Rebate, including what builders can expect as application volumes increase.

Participants will receive practical guidance and best‑practice advice to help ensure applications are complete, efficient, and processed as quickly as possible.

Webinar details:
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
4:00–5:00 PM
Register here

The Ontario Home Builders’ Association is proud to share the launch of its first Annual Report, highlighting the work that was accomplished in 2025 and the value delivered to members across the province.

This report showcases a year of significant progress. From advocacy wins to member support initiatives, OHBA made meaningful strides on behalf of Ontario’s residential construction industry. We have much to be proud of, and this report clearly demonstrates the breadth and impact of the work completed throughout the year.

Looking ahead, OHBA remains committed to working closely with our association and members to strengthen alignment with municipal, provincial, and federal governments. Their focus continues to be ensuring homes can be built efficiently while industry challenges are addressed by key decision‑makers.

Member feedback remains critical to this work. We are always ready to hear from you about what our industry needs most, and are committed to taking action on those priorities.

We would like to thank our members and association leaders for their leadership and dedication in helping steward important reforms and move the organization forward through a period of defining change.

Members are encouraged to share the Annual Report within their organizations and networks. The full report is available here.

The Town of Whitby will be hosting a public meeting on April 27, 2026 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall about their proposed Community Benefits Charge Bylaw.

The Town’s Community Benefits Charge Strategy document can be found here.

DRHBA retained Daryl Keleher of KR Planning Group to review the strategy document and identify any concerns. After reviewing the document, he found that the Town substantiates the full cap with a wide range of eligible costs. While the Town has included some unique types of projects in their strategy, including land for a hospital, the Act provides the Town the freedom to fund whatever projects they choose.

If you have any concerns or comments about Whitby’s CBC strategy, please contact Stacey.

Enbridge Gas applies a cutoff date of September 1 for service applications to be considered for installation within the same construction season. Applications submitted on or before this date are eligible to be scheduled and completed within the current calendar year.

Requests received after September 1 are handled on a best-efforts basis only. As a result, installation cannot be guaranteed within the same calendar year, as scheduling depends on remaining capacity and external constraints.

This cutoff date was established to allow sufficient time to properly review, process, and coordinate each service request. Adequate lead time is necessary to ensure safe and efficient project planning.

In addition, increased requirements from external stakeholders – such as permitting approvals and road cut restrictions – often necessitate extended installation timelines. These factors can further impact scheduling and completion dates, even when applications are submitted before the cutoff.

As of today, April 1, 2026, freehold home purchasers will need to provide notice of their new home purchase to Tarion within 45 days of entering into an agreement. The related change to deposit coverage for each year (capped at $15M for homes where notice is not provided) will commence on January 1st, 2027.

Please see the attached update from Tarion.

Implementation of this initiative had previously been delayed and for some time, uncertain to proceed.

Considerable advocacy to the Ontario government from both OHBA, and Tarion, has resulted in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale changes now proceeding following sign-off late yesterday.

From the time this proposal was first put forward by Tarion in late 2024, OHBA has consistently argued this is an important first step towards addressing illegal building, and far better than potential alternatives. You can find OHBA's first submission to Tarion here and our second submission here. Tarion has modified its initial proposal in line with our advocacy.

At the March 24^th Clarington BILT (Building Industry Liaison Team) meeting, the Durham Region Non-Profit Housing Corporation (DRNPHC) did a presentation for the municipal staff and building industry representatives in attendance. 

The Durham Region Non-Profit Housing Corporation has been in the region for over 40 years, and is an affordable housing provider. Currently, they have over 1,200 rental units that are a mix of deeply affordable units, including 50% rent geared to income (RGI) and 50% low market rent.

DRNPHC is currently working on creating cabin communities across Durham Region to help those living in encampments transition into affordable housing. They are reaching out to the development community for partnerships, and to see if anyone has land they could lend for a few years to house the fully mobile community.

The presentation can be viewed here.

For more information, you can contact DRNPHC’s CEO Tracy Greig at tracy.greig@durham-housing.com or at 905-436-6610 ext. 212.

Today, the Government of Ontario introduced Bill 98, the Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, a new piece of legislation aimed at reducing red tape, improving planning and approvals processes, and supporting the timely delivery of new housing and infrastructure across the province, while protecting jobs and economic activity.

Together, the Hon. Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Hon. Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation, and the Hon. Todd McCarthy, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, introduced the proposed legislation which builds on recent actions taken by the Ontario government and reflects a broader, systems-based approach to reform. The government continues to advance coordinated measures that work together to modernize the approvals process, improve predictability, and reduce unnecessary delays and costs that impact housing delivery and the ability to sustain jobs across the residential construction sector.

Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) and Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) welcome the continued focus on addressing systemic barriers within the planning and development approvals framework. Scott Andison, OHBA’s CEO and Dave Wilkes, BILD President & CEO, were both in attendance for today’s announcement.

Key measures within the legislation include, among others:

These measures complement recently announced initiatives, building on the government’s ongoing work to accelerate housing and transportation infrastructure, supporting a more efficient, coordinated system that can get shovels in the ground faster, support jobs across the residential construction sector, and improve overall affordability for Ontario residents and families. The new legislation signals a continued commitment to addressing housing supply challenges through coordinated policy action.

Quote from Scott Andison, CEO, OHBA:

“Our industry has consistently emphasized the importance of reducing red tape and bringing greater predictability to the planning approvals process. Ontario’s continued efforts to streamline approvals and remove barriers are both welcome and necessary. Actions such as parkland dedication reform, limiting the imposition of enhanced development standards, and advancing site plan improvements, alongside the recently announced HST relief off of all new homes, demonstrate a clear, coordinated approach to getting housing moving again. Taken together, these measures reflect meaningful progress toward modernizing the system and supporting both new home construction and the renovation sector, and the jobs they create across Ontario.”

OHBA and BILD will continue to review the legislation in detail and engage with government on implementation to ensure these reforms deliver tangible improvements in timelines, certainty, and housing supply outcomes.

The Ontario News release can be accessed here:

Ontario Introducing Legislation to Improve Transit and Build More Homes.

The Media Briefing technical deck can be found here: 

Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act

The legislation can be found here:

Bill 98, Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, 2026.

This morning, the provincial and federal governments announced an agreement to partner to lower development charges (DCs) in Ontario by up to 50 per cent and to fund infrastructure investment.

The announcement of the 10-year, $8.8 billion program was made by Premier Doug Ford, Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. It represents a major step forward in lowering the cost of building and addressing project viability across the province, particularly in high-DC areas, such as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). DCs will be reduced for at least a three-year period.

A copy of the provincial announcement and backgrounder can be accessed here; the federal announcement can be found here.

BILD and OHBA have long advocated for both temporary DC relief and structural changes to materially lower rates and address the negative impacts of high DCs on project viability and housing affordability.

Today’s announcement follows the earmarking of $12.2 billion in the November federal budget to lower DCs, to be matched by provinces. 

The forthcoming program will include at least two key conditions:

1. The program will provide funding to municipalities (and regions) that apply, provided they lower their DCs for builders and developers.
2. Municipalities must agree to update their development charge background studies. This will fast-track implementation of the requirements under Bill 17 and Bill 60 to remove land values from DC calculations. Where municipalities in the GTA have begun this work, BILD has seen preliminary results indicating a 20 to 25 per cent permanent reduction in DC rates.

Municipalities where development charges have already been reduced will be prioritized. More details will be provided as they become available.

 Today, the Ontario government tabled the 2026 budget, A Plan to Protect Ontario. A copy of the government release can be found here. 

There were no new housing-related items or initiatives, with the exception of the following three: 

1. The previously announced HST reduction on all new homes for the period of April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027. A full detailed description of this announcement, which occurred on March 25, can be found here.
2. An investment of $210 billion in a 10-year capital plan, which includes $37 billion in 2026 and 2027 to build highways, transit, and community infrastructure, with no further details about what will be included in the community infrastructure component. 
3. The Province will work with the Federal Government to provide funding to eligible municipalities that act to significantly reduce development charges and, in doing so, make housing more affordable.

 
Scott Andison, CEO of the Ontario Home Builders' Association, said, “We welcome the Ontario government’s 2026 budget, including the HST relief on new homes and its significant infrastructure commitment. Aligning these investments with housing-enabling infrastructure will be key to supporting new supply across the province.”
 
As a reminder, OHBA and BILD will be hosting two webinars for our members:
 
Friday, March 27 – 10:30 am
Ontario Budget 2026: What It Means for Our Members
This session will highlight key announcements, policy changes, and funding priorities affecting builders, developers, and renovators across the province.
Register Here
 
Tuesday, April 7 – 9:00 am
Changes to Sales Tax (HST) with MNP
BILD and OHBA are partnering with MNP to provide members with implementation guidance regarding the removal/reduction of harmonized sales tax (HST) on new homes. 
Register Here

Although there was little new news in today’s budget for housing, other anticipated initiatives are being advanced and implemented outside the budget.

The Missing Middle Initiative (MMI) and the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) partnered to author a report, “A Pathway to Development Charge Reform” that looks at seven practical recommendations on how to lower development charges (DCs) in a fiscally responsible way that does not increase property taxes.

In the report, the seven recommendations in OREA’s roadmap to reducing development charges are:

1. Provide immediate relief to homebuyers and accelerate housing construction through a two-year DC suspension program.

2. Lower tax bills and interest costs by reducing infrastructure construction costs through alternative financing mechanisms, such as municipal service corporations and municipal utility districts.

3. Substantially lower the price of new homes by removing tens of thousands of dollars in interest costs and tax-on-tax by implementing a transparent direct-to-buyer DC billing model that exempts DCs from Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) and Land Transfer Tax (LTT).

4. Lower the price of new homes by removing population growth-related costs from DCs.

5. Reduce DCs and eliminate waste in the system by increasing transparency and standardizing methodologies across municipalities.

6. Reduce cost pressures on municipalities by improving coordination of infrastructure planning, including transit and roads, between all levels of government.

7. Improve accountability and public trust by increasing transparency and reporting of DCs.

The full report can be downloaded here or from OREA's website.