Sky-High Development Charges: One of the major reasons why affordable housing in the GTA is becoming extinct! -by Felix Vortsman

In fact in cities like Toronto, development charges alone make up approximately 27% of the cost to build a brand new housing unit.  That’s insane!
And these fees are paid before even putting a shovel into the ground or buying land to build on or the cost to construct any new housing units!
A better question to ask is what is happening with the billions of dollars that cities like Toronto are collecting in development charges yet for some strange reason remain perennially in massive budget deficits.
I personally would like to know where the billions that our governments collect and development charges is being squandered? Clearly these are not being used to create any new affordable housing units in any material way.
The general population also needs to know that for every new housing unit that’s created the government essentially creates a perpetual income stream in the form of property taxes as they now get to collect from each and every single new property that gets built.
Where are those billions of dollars of new property tax revenues being squandered as well?
Furthermore, property taxes continue to increase annually, which further generates even more billions of dollars for our municipalities.
Clearly, in cities like Toronto, municipalities have been benefiting from massive windfalls with respect to both property taxes and development charges that they keep on collecting. Yet there is zero clarity with respect to where all the billions of dollars of these windfall dollars go.
Is it not hard time that we hold our politicians to account? Especially as the general population continues to struggle to get into both the home ownership and Rental markets the largely remain unaffordable to the vast majority of the masses?
Why is it that the cost of material and labour to build new housing units have been skyrocketing 20 to 100% percent over the last couple of years yet our government still want us to believe that inflation is only running around 5%?
Why do the citizens of this country continue to accept and believe the wool that has been pulled over their eyes by all levels of government when the ugly truth is right in front of our faces?
Why is this fiasco not being reported by the mass media? Why are municipalities and their leaders not held to account?
Our political leaders, at all levels of government, have some explaining to do!  Is it not time that we demand the truth from our fearless political leaders?
“Municipal fees and charges are by far the largest component of the government-imposed taxes and fees that make up 22 to 24 per cent of the cost of a new home,” he said.
In Toronto, that rises to nearly 27 per cent once inclusionary zoning kicks in.
Where development charges and fees have risen by as much as 606 per cent in the GTA since 2009, property taxes have increased only 22 per cent, said BILD.”