Steve Clark, Ontario’s municipal affairs and housing minister, is looking at potential tax changes to increase the construction of rental units.

Clark has called for the federal government to defer HST on new, large rentals.

If ottawa does not take the first step, ontario will take action

The definition of “affordable” housing will also be updated. Developers will soon see a change when it comes to reductions and exemptions of fees when building new, large-scale units.

In 2022, Clark introduced cuts to those fees, which defined “affordable” as 80 per cent of the average market rent or purchase price.

Clark is planning for the new legislation to be introduced in the fall where the new definition would be based on the 2020 Provincial Policy Statement.

In that statement, affordable is defined as either housing that costs no more than 30 per cent of gross annual household income for low- and moderate-income households or is below average prices in the area.

Facilitators will be assessing six regional governments: Durham, Halton, Waterloo, York and Niagara regions and Simcoe County by September 11.

Earlier this year, legislation was passed to dissolve Peel Region, which is made up of Brampton, Mississauga, an Caledon.