On April 10, 2024, the Ontario government introduced Bill 185, the Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, 2024. The legislation, positioned as an omnibus red tape reduction bill, contains the next round of proposed policy changes that form part of the housing supply action plans that the Ford government has committed to releasing on an annual basis.
Click here to read OHBA's full Member Update on Bill 185.
OHBA Member Update - Ontario Building Code
The newly harmonized next edition of the Ontario Building Code (OBC) was filed on April 10, 2024. This resulted in over 1,730 provisions changing within the next code. OHBA remains committed to working with MMAH and other key stakeholders, such as the Ontario Building Officials' Association, to ensure a successful transition to 2024 OBC.
Resources
Key Dates and Transition Plan
Proposed Code Changes that ARE NOT Moving Forward Within the 2024 OBC
There are two key items that were proposed for adoption into the 2024 Ontario Building Code that will not be moving forward within the next edition as they did not meet the key criteria applied under the Ministry's analysis:
Key Aspects of the 2024 Ontario Building Code
Division A and C administrative changes introduce multiple definitions supporting harmonization with the National Building Code (NBC) and Ontario-only requirements. We recommend that members take the time to review all the proposed changes, but have flagged the following key items to be aware of:
Radon
Two Unit Houses (Secondary Suites)
Large Buildings (Accessibility)
Structural Design
Fully harmonize with National's recent structural design changes, including:
Additional information around the 2024 OBC will be delivered to members through a series of OHBA webinars and training sessions. Please look out for registration in the coming days.
OHBA will be supported by MMAH as they look to roll out the 2024 OBC and have committed to providing members with technical bulletins, webinars and seminars.
DRHBA is hosting an OBC Update session as part of the LEEP session on May 2, 2024 at Deer Creek in Ajax. More details on this event can be found here.
Oshawa – March 18, 2024 – The Durham Region Home Builders’ Association (DRHBA) has released the finalists for the 2024 Awards of Excellence. This year, DRHBA had over 100 entries and judges from across Canada have scored the submissions and chosen this year’s winners.
These prestigious awards celebrate excellence in new homes, home renovations, innovative technology and construction, outstanding presentation, and marketing of projects within Durham Region.
Please join us in person for this year’s Awards of Excellence ceremony! DRHBA will be hosting the in-person gala on Thursday, April 25th at 5:30 p.m. at the Towneplace Suites by Marriott, located at 1011 Bloor Street East in Oshawa. Please click here to purchase your tickets. Don’t delay – ticket sales close on April 12, 2023.
If you have any questions regarding DRHBA’s Awards of Excellence, please contact Erica at erica@drhba.com or 905-579-8080 ext. 1.
This year’s finalists include:
Sales & Marketing Finalists
Excellence in Digital Advertisement
Excellence in Interior Decorating
Excellence in Logo Design
Excellence in New Homes Sales Office
Excellence in Sales Brochure Design
Excellence in Signage
Excellence in Social Media
Excellence in Website Design
Finalists – New Home Design - Custom
Excellence in Custom Built Bathroom Design
Excellence in Custom Built Kitchen Design
Excellence in Custom Built Home Under 3,500 sq.ft.
Excellence in Custom Built Home Over 3,501 sq.ft.
Finalists – New Home Design – Production
Excellence in Back-to-Back Townhome
Excellence in Stacked/Back-to-Back Townhouse Building Design
Excellence in Stacked/Back-to-Back Townhouse Unit Design
Excellence in Building Design (Mid-Rise & High-Rise)
Excellence in Multi-Unit Suite Design (Mid-Rise and High-Rise)
Excellence in Production Built Bathroom Design
Excellence in Production Built Home Under 2,500 sq.ft.
Excellence in Production Built Home 2,501 – 3,500 sq.ft.
Excellence in Production Built Home over 3,501 sq.ft.
Excellence in Production Built Kitchen Design
Excellence in Townhome under 2,000 sq.ft.
Excellence in Townhome Over 2,000 sq.ft.
Finalists – RenoMark Home Renovator Awards
Excellence in Bathroom Renovation
Excellence in Home Renovation/Addition Over $250,001
Excellence in Home Renovation/Addition Under $250,000
Excellence in Kitchen Renovation
Excellence in Unique Space
Outstanding Achievement Awards
Excellence in Training & Development
Innovation of the Year
Sales Team of the Year
Supplier of the Year
Professional of the Year
Renovator of the Year
Corporate Citizenship
Community of the Year
Green Builder of the Year
Builder of the Year – Small Volume
Builder of the Year – Large Volume
People’s Choice Award – Finalists
Vote Online for the People’s Choice Winner here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SG2N77N
Voting for the People's Choice Award closes on Friday, April 5, 2024 at 5 p.m.
The Ontario Home Builders' Association is currently investigating a fee increase for the 2024-2025 membership year.
OHBA dues are billed through and collected by DRHBA and remitted back to OHBA. Currently, members pay $400 to OHBA as part of their yearly dues.
OHBA created a presentation to explain/justify the fee increase, which can be reviewed here.
There are two fee options currently being proposed:
Flat Fee
Under the proposed Flat Fee model, the proposed rates are as follows:
Tiered Fee
The tiered fee model provides a breakdown of builder/developer members into further categories based on number of units, with an annual flat fee charged for each category. The proposed rates are as follows:
Builder/Developers
Renovators - $600
Professionals/Suppliers/Trades - $500
Rebate
OHBA fees are paid with every local HBA that you are a member of. For example, if you belong to three local home builders' associations, you would pay the OHBA fees three times. To account for this, OHBA is proposing that under the new fee structure, members who join multiple locals will receive a rebate directly from OHBA. The proposed rebate is:
Response to OHBA
DRHBA's board of directors is looking for feedback from members on OHBA's proposed fee increase. This feedback will be used to create DRHBA's official response to OHBA. Members can send their feedback to Stacey or you can take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2ND2QRZ.
Your voice matters! Please provide your feedback to ensure that your voice is heard.
The Township of Scugog is currently in the midst of a Development Charge Background Study. Their current DC by-law will expire on May 28, 2024.
The Township has retained the services of Hemson Consulting Ltd. to prepare the background study. A high-level overview was provided to council on January 15th.
An informal open house to present the high-level information prior to the release of the background study will be held on Friday, February 2, 2024 in council chambers at 181 Perry Street, second floor in Port Perry, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The background study will be released on February 22, 2024 and a public meeting will be held on March 5, 2024. Council is planning on passing the new by-law on April 22, 2024.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Stacey.
The Municipality of Clarington is reviewing its building permit fees, within the building by-law, as a requirement under the Building Code Act.
The Municipality is projecting the providing building code services will cost $3,667,600 in 2024.
In accordance with the provisions of the Building Code Act, the Municipality is proposing an increase of 8.99 per cent for building permit fees and inspection fees as of March 1, 2024. This represents an increase from $15.33 to $16.71 per square metre for a single family dwelling.
The Municipality believes that this increase will ensure that building permit revenue covers all direct and indirect costs to the Municipality in delivering these services, based on projected trends and building data. The increase is also projected to contribute to the reserve fund, which would be used to maintain services during an economic downturn.
A public meeting will be held on Monday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m. You can join in person or virtually.
To participate virtually, please pre-register by completing the online form at www.clarington.net/delegations, by calling 905-623-3379 ext. 2109 or emailing clerks@clarington.net by February 9, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. You do not need to pre-register as a delegate in order to speak in person.
Written comments can be sent to Brent Rice at brice@clarington.net or to Stacey before the public meeting.
The City of Oshawa invites you to provide feedback on the Bloor-Simcoe Intensification Study (the “Study”). The purpose of the Study is to develop an intensification policy framework to guide future development in suitable locations and at appropriate densities within the Study Area.
The City is advancing the following public consultation opportunities related to the Study:
It is requested that you submit comments related to the Study directly to Victoria White at vwhite@oshawa.ca. Please note that feedback will be received until 12 p.m. on Friday, February 9, 2024 and will be considered in a future staff report to be presented to the Economic and Development Services Committee.
The City of Pickering is exploring new opportunities to support urban agriculture within Pickering and is seeking your input. Urban agriculture comes in many forms, but it's considered by many to be simply growing or producing vegetables, herbs, and fruits in urban spaces.
Recent years have seen the development community incorporate urban agriculture opportunities into new communities where possible. This includes providing community gardening plots (on the ground and integrated within buildings terraces and podiums), edible landscaping to container balcony gardening. The integration of urban agriculture provides various opportunities for growing local food on site where future residents can establish a community garden for social, economic and well-being benefits.
To better understand why urban agriculture consideration is (or not) part of your company's business sustainability plan, as well as the challenges to undertaking these programs, the City of Pickering has prepared a short survey. Your ideas and feedback will help City staff understand the opportunities and barriers facing the development community when considering these types of design features. This information will help shape the City's short-term actions and long-term planning to meet the needs of the community.
The results and feedback from individuals will not be shared. The overarching ideas/themes will be included as part of a report that staff are preparing for Council in March 2024. If you cannot comment on behalf of your company, please forward the survey link to an appropriate colleague. We request that surveys be completed by January 29, 2024.
SUMMARY
OHBA has been closely following the Ontario Minister of Energy’s commitment to reverse an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) decision in late December 2023 that denied Enbridge’s amortization of natural gas connection costs.
The OEB’s decision would have had the effect of front-ending the entire cost of the natural gas servicing connection on the construction of any new homes connected to natural gas utility. This is estimated to add several thousands of dollars in additional costs to the construction costs of a new home.
Minister of Energy Todd Smith committed to introducing legislation to reverse the decision, citing that the decision would lead to increased costs and reduced choice for consumers.
BACKGROUND
On December 21st, the OEB released a decision that Enbridge could no longer amortize natural gas connection costs for new customers over a 40-year period and would have to charge the complete costs upfront (estimated by the OEB at roughly $4,400 per new home).
The OEB’s position is that Enbridge’s long-term plan is unreasonable because it assumes that every new housing development will include gas servicing and that homebuyers will remain on gas for 40 years, with OEB citing an energy transition toward electrification in new home construction.
"The OEB is not satisfied that Enbridge Gas's proposal will not lead to an overbuilt, underutilized gas system in the face of the energy transition," much of the board wrote.
The OEB stated the connection cost should be paid upfront by home developers to address that risk and incentivize developers "to choose the most cost-effective, energy-efficient choice." Per the OEB: “Consumers would benefit if developers chose to forego that up-front cost and opted against gas lines.”
The decision also noted that “connection costs have escalated sharply for Enbridge Gas in recent years due to rising construction costs and additional costs related to municipal permit and restoration requirements.”
The final decision was two to one, with the dissenting commissioner arguing that a 20-year horizon would be appropriate for amortizing gas connection costs for Enbridge’s customers.
MINISTER’S RESPONSE
Minister Todd Smith Released the following statement on December 22nd, 2023.
“Our government was elected with a mandate to rebuild Ontario’s economy as we keep costs down for people and businesses and build the homes our growing province needs.
“I am extremely disappointed in yesterday’s split decision by the Ontario Energy Board to reduce the amortization period for the cost of installing new natural gas connections for homes. This decision, which would mean costs that are normally paid over 40 years would be owed in full upfront, could lead to tens of thousands of dollars added to the cost of building new homes.
“At a time when Ontario, like the rest of Canada, is already dealing with the difficult headwinds of high-interest rates and inflationary pressures, the Ontario Energy Board’s decisions would slow or halt the construction of new homes, including affordable housing. We will not stand for this.
“In response, I will use all of my authorities as Minister to pause the Ontario Energy Board’s decision. At the earliest opportunity, our government will introduce legislation that, if passed, would reverse it, so that we protect future homebuyers and keep shovels in the ground.” [Emphasis added].
The Legislature is in recess till February 20th – so the earliest any legislation can be introduced would be on or after this date.
Some notable points that Minister Smith highlighted during his press conference:
“We’re still doing the math on how many thousands of dollars it could be. More than half of the delegations I’ve had as minister of energy over the last two years are from municipalities that want new natural gas in their communities; they want that expansion program expanded again.”
“We’ve been trying to take a pragmatic approach to the energy transition and not heaping tons of new costs on new homes, making sure that life is affordable for people, particularly for those looking to buy a home for the first time.”
There have been no further statements from the Ministry on the announcement to overturn the decision. Due to the sensitive precedent of overruling an independent regulator’s decision, the Minister has not speculated on precisely what the government will bring forward regarding legislation.
NEXT STEPS FOR OHBA
RESOURCES
OEB Decision Backgrounder December 21, 2023
https://www.oeb.ca/sites/default/files/backgrounder-EGI-EB-2022-0200-20231221-en.pdf
OEB Decision and Order
https://www.rds.oeb.ca/CMWebDrawer/Record/827754/File/document
Minister’s Statement
Ontario Government Standing Up for Families and Businesses | Ontario Newsroom
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Phone: 905-579-8080
Email: info@drhba.com
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Oshawa, Ontario
L1J 7A4
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