Today, Toronto announced it is reducing development charges thanks to funding from the provincial and federal governments. I thought I'd do a by-the-numbers post to provide some added context. 17% Toronto’s share of the $8.8 billion province-wide fund for development charge reductions. 40% The reduction for studio and 1-bedroom homes. 60% The reduction for 2+ bedroom homes. 2018 The approximate year Toronto’s development charges are being reduced back to. $661 million The amount of road works capital projects that will be funded. $327 million The amount of water and wastewater infrastructure that will be funded. $511 million The amount of transit capacity that will be funded. 25,150 The baseline number of homes expected to be built over the next three years without development charge reductions. That works out to an average of 8,383 homes per year, which is shockingly below the average of roughly 19,600 homes per year from 2016 to 2025. 18,750 The number of additional homes City staff expect the development charge reductions to unlock over the next three years. That is 6,250 additional homes per year, or a 75% increase compared to the baseline average. $0 The number of dollars developers will receive from today’s funding announcement. That last number matters. Every dollar cities receive to reduce development charges goes to cities, not developers. The funding will be used to pay for infrastructure that everyone in Toronto benefits from, including roads, water, wastewater, and transit. This is an important reminder that reducing development charges is not about writing cheques to developers. It is about lowering the cost of building homes while still funding the infrastructure needed to support growth.