Wow. That is really all I have to say on that.

Thank you so much for voting against bills that would reduce the cost of building things in Ontario.

We are cutting the development charges for not-for-profit housing. Is that not what your question was about? Then you asked, how are we doing that? We’re cutting the development charge in the GTA. In some portions of the GTA, it’s $167,000 for a development charge. Not-for-profits will not have to pay that. That is a significant reduction in the cost per unit—$167,000. What is that in terms of mortgage payments right now, with the interest rates that we have? That is hundreds of dollars per month—close to $500 per month—that is not going to have to be paid for not-for-profit housing builds. That helps.

There is more to the province of Ontario than the city of Toronto, and if you come to any riding outside of the 25 that are in Toronto, they would say that they should also get the same level of respect and that they should get the same benefits as what the Toronto members of the NDP are trying to advocate for Toronto.

In my riding, I know that people are happy about the idea of housing being built; I know that people are happy about the idea of jobs being brought back to the province.

I could go across any single riding of the PC government members, and they would all say the same thing: Ontario is on the right track, because we’re attracting businesses.

VW would not be here if it was not for the work of this government, the leadership of Premier Ford and the leadership of Vic Fedeli—sorry, the member from Nipissing, the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade—

My question is to the member for Peterborough–Kawartha.

When I looked at the budget, one of the things I noticed is that when you look at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s budget, you see a $124-million cut. That’s on top of the $5-billion loss in infrastructure spending that is occurring across Ontario because of this government’s Bill 23.

What is this government’s plan to properly fund affordable housing projects so that they can actually get built?

Everything I’m seeing in this budget is looking like a cut.

I thank the member for his heartfelt comments on behalf of his riding and community. It’s very important that we listen and learn.

I want to ask, specific to the bill that we are debating, Bill 85, budget 2023: Will he and his colleagues in His Majesty’s official opposition support the increase in the investment in homelessness prevention and the Indigenous Supportive Housing Program, which is proposed to be over $200 million annually, to give more people a safe place to call home?

Seven years ago, the Ontario Ombudsman published a disturbing report entitled Nowhere to Turn. His report highlighted systemic issues faced by hundreds of adults with developmental disabilities, including many in hospital because no other placements were available.

Yesterday, the Ombudsman announced a new investigation because so many adults with developmental disabilities are still being forced to live in hospitals because there’s no appropriate housing for them in the community.

The government can ensure adults with developmental disabilities have the quality of life they deserve and can free up much-needed hospital space by investing in assisted living.

Can the minister explain why they didn’t include any new funding in the budget?

I thank my honourable colleague for the question again.

I wanted to mention that we’re also backing that strategy up with real investments, with funding over $2.9 billion in developmental services, including more than $1.8 billion for residential supports.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the great work of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and thanks to the Minister of Finance, you saw that, in the budget, $2.2 million will be invested for supportive housing. The minister has said many, many, many times that we are in a housing supply crisis in the province of Ontario—one that affects every single person, one that we’re trying to address, one that the opposition continuously votes against, doesn’t seem to understand. So in order to get housing right for everybody, we need to address the supply crisis that we’re in, and I thank the minister for his leadership on that.

My question is for the Premier.

The financial cost of sprawl is huge. One study determined that it costs 2.5 times more to service sprawl than to service a new built home in existing developed areas. Another study showed that when you factor in both tax revenue and servicing costs, homes constructed in built-up areas pay for themselves, while sprawl represents an ongoing cost for property taxpayers.

Speaker, people are struggling with a cost-of-living crisis and a housing affordability crisis.

So why is the Premier pursuing a sprawl agenda, that paves over the greenbelt and makes housing and life less affordable for people and communities?

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Mr. Speaker, let’s be clear. I’ve said this in the House before and I’ll say it again: Ontario municipalities are still able to collect development charges on most market housing, provided that these are increased at a reasonable and predictable rate.

At the end of the day, more homes and growing communities make sense for taxpayers. They increase the tax base. They allow municipalities to be able to provide services to their local communities at a lower cost. That’s something that our government subscribes to, but municipalities need to do the same.

With all due respect, I wasn’t talking about development charges—although that’s a problem as well; I’m talking about the cost of sprawl.

There’s overwhelming evidence that the cost of sprawling out will hit people, municipalities and taxpayers’ pocketbooks hard. There’s overwhelming evidence from the government’s own housing task force that we do not need to open the greenbelt to address the housing crisis.

Speaker, there’s a whole generation of young people wondering if they will ever be able to afford a home.

The government’s sprawl agenda will result in more expensive homes, higher property taxes, and elevated climate-fuelled flood risk.

So will the government stand up for property tax payers and people struggling to find an affordable home by cancelling their expensive sprawl agenda and keeping their promise not to develop the greenbelt?

I just want to correct my record from earlier. In response to my honourable colleague from Thunder Bay–Superior North, I indicated that there was an increase of $2.2 million in supportive housing—in fact, it’s $202 million of increase. Thank you very much—

Interjections.

I would really like an opportunity to ask the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing a question, so I’m hoping the members can answer what I have here.

Like all our ridings, Hamilton is losing affordable housing faster than we can build it. Renovictions are a huge part of the problem because this government has put in absolutely no protections for tenants, so tenants are losing their affordable housing units. We have experts that have pegged the price of one new social housing unit to build at approximately $450,000 a unit.

This government is proposing $202 million for social housing. If you divide that by the 444 municipalities there are in this province, surprisingly that comes out to $455,000 for each municipality if they share that equally. So are you truly saying that the amount of money you’re proposing is going to build one social housing unit per municipality when we know that we have tens of thousands of people that are homeless or underhoused in this province?

What’s clear is that middle-class families are feeling the pinch. Under this government, their hydro rates have gone up, not gone down. Their grocery prices are higher. Rent and housing is more expensive. In the last five years under this government, the costs for families are higher, and in this budget, there was an opportunity for the government to present targeted measures to help families, to help individuals deal with the rising costs that they’re facing, and the government chose not to do those things.

We’re seeing a government in Ottawa that’s choosing to make targeted tax measures in their budget, Madam Speaker. I’m not sure why this government here in Toronto chose not to do the same thing.

It’s clear that, as you said, this budget doesn’t meet the moment. It does nothing to make life a little bit easier for middle-class and suburban families that are struggling every day to pay the basic costs of utility bills and groceries and all the other costs in their lives that have gone up.

When we talk about rent, we have a government that removed rent controls on new builds after 2018. That’s something that’s affected me. My rent for my condo here in Toronto went from $2,100 to $2,600. That’s outrageous. And I’m fortunate: We have an allowance that pays for that, and I’m a person of means and can afford to absorb that. Most families couldn’t absorb a 20% or 25% rent increase.

Imagine if you’re, then, amongst the lowest-income earners in the province, those who are on ODSP and other social supports. How are they supposed to get by? This budget does nothing to make life a little bit easier for those individuals and others who are struggling with high costs as inflation is running rampant.