Mississauga Mayor Parrish Slashes Development Charges to Jumpstart Housing Construction

In a decisive move to tackle the housing crisis, Mississauga City Council has unanimously passed Mayor Carolyn Parrish’s motion to reduce development charges and accelerate home construction. The initiative, based on recommendations from the Mayor’s Housing Task Force, aims to cut costs, streamline approvals, and incentivize developers to build much-needed housing.

“We can no longer wait to act,” said Mayor Parrish. “The housing crisis demands immediate action, and today we’re implementing the Housing Task Force’s recommendations to drive real change. Our city cannot afford to lose more young people and families due to unaffordable housing. We must give younger generations an equal shot at buying and renting a home.”

Major Incentives for Developers

Under the new plan, Mississauga will offer:

• A 50% reduction in City Development Charges (DCs) for all residential units.

• A 100% reduction in DCs for family-sized (three-bedroom) units in purpose-built rental buildings.

• Deferral of DC payments until occupancy, easing financial pressure on developers.

Development charges help fund growth-related infrastructure such as roads and transit, but city officials argue that temporarily lowering them is essential to kickstarting residential construction, which has stalled due to rising costs.

The city is also urging Peel Region to match these reductions and introduce a multi-residential tax subclass, which could cut property taxes on new rental buildings by up to 35%.

Mississauga’s action comes as new high-rise home sales in the region plummeted by 95% in 2024. The Mayor’s Housing Task Force has warned that, without bold reforms to development charges, taxes, and fees, few new homes will be built in the next two years.

“The barriers to homebuilding—development charges, taxes, and fees—must be tackled head-on,” Parrish emphasized. “This is about building a future for Mississauga where young people can stay, families can grow, and everyone has a place to call home.”

Industry experts have welcomed the move, calling it an essential step to ensuring housing projects move forward.

“All across the GTA, new home construction is stalling due to financial viability challenges driven by high construction costs, inflation, and financing cost escalation,” said Paula Tenuta, SVP of Policy & Advocacy at BILD. “These historic actions by the City of Mississauga to remove the barriers and costs that are crippling an industry in crisis will have a meaningful impact on the construction of new homes and purpose-built rental units.”

The city has increased its housing target to 370,000 new homes by 2051, up from the previous goal of 246,000. To support this long-term vision, Mississauga is calling on provincial and federal governments to fund infrastructure and affordable housing.

City staff will explore funding from programs such as:

• Ontario’s Building Faster Fund

• The federal Housing Accelerator Fund

• The federal Housing Infrastructure Fund

Mayor Parrish credited the Mayor’s Housing Task Force for its rapid progress. Convened just two weeks after she took office, the group of over 30 industry experts and city planners developed the Partners in Homebuilding Report, which formed the basis of today’s initiative.

Graham Cubitt, Director of Projects and Development at Indwell, also praised the city’s collaborative approach. “Mayor Parrish’s efforts to bring together creative, resourceful people with proven experience is bearing fruit. We appreciate the dialogue and active listening that is happening at the Task Force, leading to new pathways for taking action on housing problems.”