Essex County gets up to $105.8M to cut development charges

Municipalities in Essex County will receive up to $105.8 million from Ottawa and Queen’s Park in exchange for cutting or eliminating development charges on new homes, a move the two governments said could take up to $40,862 off the cost of building a home.

The funding, announced Oct. 23 in LaSalle, Ont., flows through the Development Charge Reduction Program. Municipalities that agree to lower the fees builders pay on new housing receive money for infrastructure such as water and wastewater systems, roads, bridges and recreation centres.

Essex County itself will receive up to $51.2 million. It will eliminate its development charges in 2026 and 2027, then cut them by 75 per cent in 2028, 50 per cent in 2029 and 25 per cent in 2030.

The Town of LaSalle will receive up to $25.4 million and will eliminate its development charges from March 30, 2026, to March 31, 2029, including in the Reaume Sanitary Service Area.

The Municipality of Lakeshore will receive up to $11.8 million, the Town of Essex up to $8.8 million and the Town of Kingsville up to $8.4 million. All three will cut development charges by 50 per cent from March 30, 2026, to March 31, 2029.

“This investment will help municipalities across Essex County reduce the cost of building new homes,” Essex MPP Anthony Leardi said in the joint news release.

Earlier the same day, the governments announced up to $84.4 million for Windsor and Tecumseh under the same program. Windsor will receive up to $77.6 million for stormwater management and road work and will cut residential development charges by 70 per cent, while Tecumseh will receive up to $6.8 million for a new trunk sanitary sewer and will cut its charges by 50 per cent. Both cuts run from March 30, 2026, to March 31, 2029, according to the Windsor and Tecumseh release.

The governments estimated the reductions could lower construction costs by up to $49,452 per home in Windsor and $18,078 in Tecumseh, and that the savings and infrastructure spending would unlock 19,263 new homes in those two municipalities.

For buyers, the development charge cuts come on top of full HST relief on eligible new homes from April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027, worth up to $130,000. Together, the two measures could save up to $170,862 per home, the governments said. They estimated the savings and infrastructure money would enable 36,372 new homes in Essex County.

The money is part of a cost-matched $8.8-billion, 10-year infrastructure deal Canada and Ontario reached in March 2026, with the federal share coming from the Build Communities Strong Fund. Each allocation still depends on a Canada-Ontario agreement, due diligence and a transfer payment agreement with Ontario, and municipalities must cover at least 10 per cent of project costs.

Development charges are one-time fees municipalities levy on new construction to pay for growth-related services. More than 200 of Ontario’s 444 municipalities charge them, according to the release. Affordability pressure on buyers is also drawing calls for federal mortgage changes, including from the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association.

Buyers weighing a new build can also check our guide to first-time home buyer programs in Canada and our earlier report on Ontario’s HST break on new homes.

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Photo: Rob Flack, Ontario’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, at Queen’s Park in Toronto on May 13, 2025. File photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston