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City of Mississauga program targets those who want an affordable home
The City of Mississauga is taking action to get more affordable housing built, starting with the approval of a motion outlining two incentives available for shovel-ready projects that pull building permits before November 13, 2026.
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The motion — which stems from the city’s Partners in Homebuilding Mayor’s Housing Task Force Report — reduces residential development charges by 50 per cent or by 100 per cent for family units (three bedrooms) in purpose-built rental apartments, and defers and collects residential development charges at occupancy.
It also calls on the Region of Peel to implement a new multi-residential tax subclass that would reduce property taxes by up to 35 per cent for new purpose-built rental housing.
The Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) applauds the city’s direction. “What Mississauga has done is they’ve recognized we have a problem, that we need to bring solutions to the table that will address the cost-to-build challenges that we are currently facing,” said BILD CEO Dave Wilkes.
The task force report provides more than 30 recommendations and action items to address barriers to housing. According to BILD, it recognizes that land, material and labour costs, along with government fees, taxes and charges are resulting in a cost to build that exceeds the market’s ability and/or willingness to absorb.
“What I liked about the report, was its focus on solution,” said Wilkes. “It focuses on reducing the cost to build to address both project viability and, even more importantly, affordability for those who want to make Mississauga their home and I commend them in their leadership for doing so.”
The four key priorities tabled in the report include: Reforming development charges, taxes and fees; updating building and design standards; transforming zoning regulations with the goal of relaxing regulations that lead to costly delays; and, creating sustainable programs and funding to support delivery of affordable housing.
Specifically, it calls on municipalities to review and modernize regulations that impose unnecessary constraints on development, to phase in sustainability measures and simplify the site plan application process, and to standardize alternative solutions for mid-rise development.
It also calls on the federal government to standardize the Building Code across Canada and urges the provincial government to introduce accessibility and green standards, and to adopt a streamlined and concurrent approval process for environmental requirements.
“What I think the Mississauga report does, is it recognizes the current approach to approving, planning, defining and designing, and the fees that are applied to housing — all of which have been in place for decades — (have led to) a generational housing supply and affordability crisis,” said Wilkes. “This report is saying we can’t go forward with past approaches; we need new approaches.”
The Mississauga task force is made up of more than 30 building and development experts working in Ontario’s private and not-for-profit housing sectors. The City has said it is prepared to act and is “willing to operate differently both fiscally and administratively” to help spur development.
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