Open Letter – March 2025

An Open Letter to the Mayors and Regional Chairs of the Greater Toronto Area

March 2025

BILD would like to thank Mayors Meed-Ward, Del Duca, and Parrish for their leadership in lowering development charges and altering payment timing to help lower the current high “cost to build” and spur residential construction. We also thank those Mayors and Regional Chairs who are now actively engaging with the industry to find similar solutions.

Due to cost escalations across a variety of fronts, the cost to produce new housing is exceeding the market’s ability to absorb, rendering new housing projects non-financially viable. Largely driven by the need to find suitable housing they can afford, 80,000 people left the Greater Toronto Area last year, primarily people in their 20s and young families, moving to other parts of Ontario or Canada. This will have serious socio-economic implications for the region, which is the economic engine of Canada.

Recent economic and tariff uncertainty has already shaken consumer confidence, and rising material and supply chain costs will further increase the cost to build – all of which only heighten the urgency to implement solutions. Building homes in the GTA builds our economy, supports domestic industries nationwide, and protects Canadian jobs. 

As an industry, we ask you to partner with us to identify tangible solutions to lower the cost to build and create the market conditions to support all housing options. Our industry is committed to addressing the factors that are within our ability to control in order to confront the housing crisis.

We ask that you do the same.