Wednesday morning, former Mayor of Mississauga and current leader of the Ontario Liberal Party Bonnie Crombie announced three "sweeping reforms" intended to reduce taxes on housing and make renting fairer and more affordable.
The reforms, packaged as the More Homes You Can Afford plan, represent the first pillar of Crombie's Housing Plan and involve eliminating the provincial Land Transfer Tax, scrapping development charges, and introducing phased-in rent control, decreasing timelines for Landlord-Tenant Board (LTB) disputes, and setting up a emergency rent fund.
“It’s time for a government that delivers more for you,” Crombie said in a press release. “As Premier, I’ll cut your taxes, build homes you can afford, tackle surging rents, and restore the basic promise that if you work hard, you will be able to afford a home in your community.”
In a backgrounder, Crombie highlights the need for more rigorous housing policies, noting that one in five Ontarians spend over half of their income on housing, average rent has risen at nearly twice the rate of inflation, while average home prices have increased by almost 50%, and Ontario is building fewer homes annually than it did 50 years ago.
"Doug Ford has failed to address soaring home prices, skyrocketing rents, and collapsing housing starts with the decisive action required to tackle Ontario’s housing crisis," says the backgrounder. "He’s hitting less than half of his own housing targets, ignoring recommendations from his own housing task force, and carving up the Greenbelt to build McMansions for his rich buddies."
Reducing Taxes On Housing
Over the course of Premier Doug Ford's leadership (between 2018 and 2024), revenue collected by the Province from the Land Transfer Tax rose 40% from $2.76 billion to $3.88 billion, Crombie points out. In aim of making homeownership more affordable, the first of the Liberal leader's reforms involves eliminating the Land Transfer Tax for first-time homebuyers, seniors downsizing, and non-profit home builders, which she says will save homebuyers $13,500 off the cost of a new home.
Crombie also plans to do away with development charges on new middle-class housing (under 3,000 sq. ft) and instead support infrastructure growth with a permanent "Better Communities Fund." The idea is that builders will be incentivized to build more family-sized homes for first-time home buyers, particularly middle- or low-income families, while the Fund will introduce "transparent, growth-based incentives linked to the number, type, and speed of housing approvals."
Additionally, co-ops and purpose-built rental housing would be fully exempt from other punitive taxes, such as Community Benefits Charges.
Making Renting More Affordable And Fair
The third reform — "making renting more affordable" — proposes a number of solutions. First, Crombie wants to reintroduce rent control through a phased-in approach to reverse Doug Ford's "arbitrary" decision six years ago, which eliminated rent control for homes that were first occupied on or after November 15, 2018.
Crombie's plan is to follow models implemented in Manitoba, Oregon, and California where tenancies will ‘phase-in’ to the Residential Tenancies Act annual guideline framework after a building is ready to be occupied. The new program would apply to both rented condos and units in purpose-built apartment buildings, and is meant to ensure "rental providers can stabilize new stock, maintain properties as they age, and invest in new housing, all while protecting you from being exploited."
Also on Crombie's to-do list is to swiftly clear the existing backlog of 53,000 cases at the LTB, which she says quadrupled under Ford's watch, by increasing the number of experienced adjudicators, offering both in-person and online hearings, and extending hours of operation.
Finally, Crombie intends to set up a Rental Emergency Support for Tenants (REST) Fund offering short-term, interest-free loans to help tenants cover rent payments, prevent evictions, and reduce the strain on shelters and social services.
