Czan and Christy: Ottawa needs a better approach to steep development fees

Ottawa was the first city in Canada to declare a housing affordability and homelessness emergency, in 2020. Five years later, the crisis has only deepened: home ownership remains out of reach for many, and a severe lack of supply is fuelling a bottleneck effect in the market. Recognizing the urgency, the City of Ottawa recently introduced a housing task force that, among myriad directives, will explore deferring development charges — fees that the city has raised four times in the past year and that make it even more expensive to build and buy new homes. Read More