Toronto residents looking to rent or own a new home will face higher expenses after city council voted this week to significantly increase development charges, which will potentially add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of building new homes.
Development charges are one-time fees collected by municipalities when a building permit is issued and are used to subsidize the cost of developing the public infrastructure needed to provide municipal facilities, such as roads, transit, water, sewers and community centres along with fire and police services.
On July 19, Toronto city council voted to increase development charges for residential buildings by 46 percent, while fees for non-residential buildings will increase by 40 percent….