Bill 17: Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025

This bill most directly affects residential property developers, home builders, and long-term care home operators in Ontario. Developers building homes — from small infill builders to large subdivision and condo developers — will see changes to when development charges must be paid (shifted to occupancy rather than building permit stage for non-rental residential projects), which significantly improves cash flow during construction. Long-term care home developers are fully exempt from development charges, reducing project costs. The bill also reduces minimum building setbacks on urban residential land by a prescribed percentage, allowing builders to fit more housing on smaller lots. Planning consultants and professionals preparing site plan or subdivision applications will benefit from streamlined submission requirements, as reports prepared by prescribed professionals are now deemed to satisfy municipal information requirements. Municipalities near provincial transit corridors — particularly in the Greater Toronto Area — will need to comply with new provincial directives to share data and documents for transit and infrastructure projects.