Build Homes, Build Communities, Build Futures

The case

Why this, why now

Ontario's housing crisis did not blow in off the lakes. It was built one decision at a time, by a system that taxed new homes at every step, protected the people who already owned, and let speculation take over a market whose only real job is to give people somewhere to live.

The result is a generation that did everything it was told to do and still cannot find a way into a home of its own. The single biggest predictor of how your life goes in this province has become whether your parents bought property in time. For too many young and new Ontarians, the door to homeownership has been closed and locked.

This section opens it again. We legalize the homes Ontario actually needs, the missing middle and the family-sized units and the gentle density near transit, and we make them quick and good-looking to build instead of slow and rare. We rebuild municipal finance so that cities grow by welcoming builders rather than taxing them, and we move the load onto speculators instead of first-time buyers. Build more, build better, build beautifully, and end the speculation that put a roof out of a generation's reach.

The plan

What we'll do

More Homes Less Nonsense5 commitments · $0 to ($100M) ↓

Cut the regulatory and zoning rules that block housing supply. Make it possible to build family-sized homes, missing middle, and apartments in the places Ontarians actually want to live.

Halve approval timelines through provincial permitting reform. Standardize zoning designations and application processes, modernize and speed up tribunals, and set a hard provincial target to cut approval times in half.

Legalize the housing forms Ontario needs. Legalize four units as-of-right on every residential lot, missing-middle housing in more places, and stronger as-of-right density near transit, major corridors, and employment centres.

Modernize Ontario's building code to scale the supply of affordable, quality housing. Legalize six-storey single-egress buildings, European-style elevators in buildings up to 12 storeys, and more missing-middle housing forms. Embrace prefabrication and automation in construction. Develop a tiered set of green building standards, aligned with the National Building Code so solutions can scale across Ontario and the country.

Set regional upzoning frameworks for the GTHA and Ottawa. Establish stronger as-of-right density near transit, major corridors, employment centres, and existing infrastructure across the two largest regions.

Launch a mid-sized cities agenda. Focus on Kingston, London, Windsor, Sudbury, North Bay, Kitchener, Hamilton, Niagara, St. Catharines, and Thunder Bay with serious investment in hospitals, colleges, downtowns, housing, transit, and public-service jobs.

Fix The Math To Grow Communities8 commitments · ($900M) to ($1.5B) ↓

Restructure municipal finance so cities can grow without taxing housing supply or coming cap-in-hand to the province at every step. Shift the tax burden from builders to speculators.

Cut taxes on new housing. Eliminate development charges on infill, remove the land transfer tax on homes under $2M, and make recent HST cuts on new housing permanent and tied to inflation.

Give municipalities a permanent 1% HST share. Provide municipalities with 1% of HST in perpetuity, with the province and federal government each contributing half. Enable municipal development corporations, more property tax flexibility, and expanded tax-increment financing.

Upload municipal responsibility for housing and healthcare supports. Upload these costs from municipalities or provide clear long-term operational and capital funding arrangements.

Reduce ad hoc provincial spending commitments to municipalities. Replace one-off grants, special deals, emergency bailouts, and bespoke infrastructure arrangements with clearer responsibilities and predictable funding formulas.

Apply a 1% provincial land speculation tax. Implement a land value tax on brownfield land, developable greenfield land (excluding protected and farmland), commercial property, and residential property valued above $3M. Tax speculators, not builders.

Tax windfall gains on luxury homes. Apply capital gains to the sale of high-value homes and the substantial gains they capture, recognize capital losses, and direct the revenue to cutting taxes on new housing. The threshold is indexed to inflation (CPI).

Set a default CPI-linked property tax adjustment framework. Allow municipalities to fund basic service and infrastructure costs without forcing councillors to relitigate routine inflationary increases every year. Preserve local authority to set rates above or below the guideline.

Review property assessment and municipal tax fairness. Address MPAC transparency, annual assessments, land/building value separation, assessment shocks, and better alignment between municipal revenue and infrastructure costs.

Help Ontarians Through An Affordability Transition2 commitments · ($500M) to ($1.0B) ↓

Protect recent buyers if the market corrects, and ensure permanent affordability runs alongside market supply. No family should be locked in place by negative equity.

Create a Downward Mobility Prevention program. Offer recent buyers a zero-interest loan they can put toward the down payment or equity on a new home, so they can move after a market correction instead of being forced to sell at a loss. A ten-year, time-limited program to keep families mobile and confident in their financial future.

Target 20% of new homes as non-market or limited-equity housing. Deliver through provincial equity contributions, surplus land, and financing benefits (not direct cash subsidy) for co-ops, co-housing, non-profit, public housing, and community land trusts.

What it costs

The fiscal picture

Goal	Lower	Upper
Total — Build Homes, Build Communities, Build Futures	($1.4B)	($2.6B)
More Homes Less Nonsense	$0	($100M)
Fix The Math To Grow Communities	($900M)	($1.5B)
Help Ontarians Through An Affordability Transition	($500M)	($1.0B)

Net budgetary impact over the Ontario Budget 2026 baseline. Negative numbers represent net new provincial spending; positive numbers represent net savings or revenue.

Financial assumptions — how every number was derived Line-by-line derivations for each estimate ↓

Detail on how each cost or savings estimate was derived. All figures represent net budgetary impact over the Ontario Budget 2026 baseline.

More Homes Less Nonsense · $0 to ($100M)

Idea	Lower	Upper	How it was estimated
Halve approval timelines through provincial permitting reform.	$0	$0	Funded within the existing Municipal Affairs and Housing budget.
Legalize the housing forms Ontario needs.	$0	$0	Legislative change; no provincial cost. Municipalities handle implementation, on the model of B.C.'s 2023 housing legislation.
Modernize Ontario's building code to scale the supply of affordable, quality housing.	$0	$0	Funded within the existing Municipal Affairs and Housing budget. The savings go to builders and homebuyers.
Set regional upzoning frameworks for the GTHA and Ottawa.	$0	($50M)	The frameworks are legislation and guidance, so they cost almost nothing. The range up to $50M covers grants to help municipalities implement them.
Launch a mid-sized cities agenda.	$0	($50M)	The range up to $50M covers coordination, planning, and early infrastructure grants. A full province-wide program would cost more, funded through the housing and northern budgets.

Fix The Math To Grow Communities · ($900M) to ($1.5B)

Idea	Lower	Upper	How it was estimated
Cut taxes on new housing.	($3.5B)	($5.0B)	Land transfer tax brings in $3-3.5B/yr province-wide; infill development charges are $500M-$1B; a permanent new-home HST cut costs about $1B/yr. That totals $3.5-5B/yr forgone, partly recovered as faster construction generates revenue elsewhere.
Give municipalities a permanent 1% HST share.	($2.0B)	($3.0B)	One percent of Ontario's $40B in HST is $4B/yr, split with Ottawa on the gas-tax fund model. The province's share is $2-3B/yr and depends on federal participation.
Upload municipal responsibility for housing and healthcare supports.	($2.0B)	($3.7B)	Healthcare building costs run $500M-$1.5B/yr; shelters, homelessness, and crisis services run $1-2B/yr. Total provincial cost is $1.4-3.7B/yr depending on how much is uploaded. This connects to the Health and the Welfare and Justice sections.
Reduce ad hoc provincial spending commitments to municipalities.	+$3.0B	+$4.0B	The province sends $5-8B/yr to municipalities through a patchwork of programs. Replacing these one-off grants with predictable funding saves $3-4B/yr, arriving over time.
Apply a 1% provincial land speculation tax.	+$3.0B	+$5.0B	A 1% tax on commercial, industrial, brownfield, and high-end residential land yields $3-5B/yr, with the base drawn from the provincial assessment rolls. In the first two to three years, behaviour change cuts the yield by 20 to 40 percent.
Tax windfall gains on luxury homes.	+$600M	+$1.2B	About 3,000 to 5,000 Ontario homes sell above $1.5M each year, with average gains of $300,000 to $500,000. The provincial share of capital gains tax yields $600M-$1.2B/yr depending on the exempt portion and rate. Recognizing capital losses cushions homeowners in a downturn at little cost.
Set a default CPI-linked property tax adjustment framework.	$0	$0	A process change at almost no provincial cost; municipalities keep the power to set rates above or below the guideline.
Review property assessment and municipal tax fairness.	$0	$0	Funded within the existing property assessment agency budget. The cost of any reforms depends on what the review recommends.

Help Ontarians Through An Affordability Transition · ($500M) to ($1.0B)

Idea	Lower	Upper	How it was estimated
Create a Downward Mobility Prevention program.	$0	$0	Not included in the costing because it is a ten-year, time-limited program. At today's prices it costs about $0.5B/yr, but a 40 percent correction could push it above $4B/yr. The aim is to negotiate it with the federal government, especially in a major correction.
Target 20% of new homes as non-market or limited-equity housing.	($500M)	($1.0B)	Reaching 1.5 million homes by 2031 means about 150,000 a year, so 20 percent non-market is roughly 30,000 homes a year. The province supports them through equity stakes held as assets, surplus or below-market land at cost, and financing backed by provincial guarantees, rather than cheques. The yearly carrying cost is $500M-$1B, with matching federal housing funds.

The goals

More Homes Less Nonsense

Fix The Math To Grow Communities

Help Ontarians Through An Affordability Transition

Why this, why now

What we'll do

The fiscal picture

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