2026 OMPF Allocations, Building Faster Fund Advocacy, Bill 30 Fast-Tracked, Deferred DC Payments, ASE Legislation Receives Royal Assent

Top Insights

• Allocations for the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) have been released.
• AMO provided the province with Board-advice to improve the Building Faster Fund by fixing housing start targets and tying funding to municipally determined, locally-specific reforms that create better conditions for homebuilding.
• AMO advocacy and new municipal resources supporting implementation of development charge modernization changes, including the payment deferral that came into force yesterday.
• Legislation prohibiting automated speed enforcement receives Royal Assent.
   

OMPF – 2026 Allocations

As announced last year, the province is again increasing funding for the OMPF program by $50 million next year, bringing the total funding amount to $600 million in 2026. This represents the second of two increases to the program envelope.

Based on the consultation feedback received from AMO and the municipal sector, on October 31, 2025, the provincial government announced the 2026 Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) program and detailed funding allocations, targeted towards 388 small, rural and northern Ontario municipalities, as well as those with a small property tax assessment base.

In previous years, transitional assistance was guaranteed for some municipalities based on a percentage of the prior year’s OMPF allocation, even if no core grants were awarded. Starting in 2026, OMPF recipients who are ineligible for core grants and only receive transitional assistance, will be phased out over a 5-year time frame, with 20% deductions each year. While this will result in decreased funding for a small number of municipalities, it will ensure a growing share of funding for target municipalities.

Building Faster Fund Advocacy

At the AMO Board’s direction, AMO wrote to Minister Flack to recommend Building Faster Fund (BFF) improvements. AMO proposed two key program improvements:

• First, to prioritize getting unspent funding out to municipalities in 2026 by broadening eligibility criteria beyond outdated housing targets set years ago, which no longer reflect market conditions.
• Second, to extend the BFF beyond its current 2026 end date, and redesigning it to better incentivize municipalities to tackle systemic barriers to housing development. AMO recommends making funding contingent on municipalities adopting and acting on new, locally-specific measures that create more favourable building conditions, which could range from zoning reform to grants to incent purpose-built rentals and more.
   

Provincial Government Fast-Tracking Bill 30 Through Legislature

As was the case with Bill 56 (see AMO’s previous post), the provincial government is fast-tracking Bill 30, Working for Workers Seven Act, tabled last May. The Bill proposes to exempt projects funded through the controversial Skills Development Fund’s (SDF’s) Capital Stream from the Planning Act and create the authority to limit or waive municipal authorities under the Municipal Act for these same projects.

With this decision, the government is once again eliminating public consultation on a highly impactful proposal, which undermines the legislative process. AMO is disappointed as we had planned to use the legislative committee process to voice our strong opposition to the Bill, given the substantial risks and negative impacts it could have on municipal planning and by-laws. AMO will instead provide our feedback through the Regulatory/Environmental Registry posting and as part of our engagement with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Deferred Development Charge (DC) Payment

Ontario recorded the lowest number of housing starts in the first quarter of 2025 since 2009. AMO continues to advocate that DCs are not the main cause of the housing crisis in Ontario and has developed updated key messages for member reference.

AMO is pleased that Bill 17, Protect Ontario by Building Faster and Smarter Act, 2025 reflected many joint recommendations from AMO and the Ontario Home Builders' Association (OHBA), rather than introduce blanket DC exemptions and discounts. AMO will be commenting on the province’s proposed amendments to the DC framework and proposed changes to the Development Charges Act.

Deferred Payment

Bill 17 made amendments to the Ontario Building Code and the Development Charges Act, 1997 to require that payment of DCs for non-rental residential developments be payable at the earlier of:

• The date an occupancy permit is issued or
• The date the development is first occupied.

This change aims to support residential construction by improving developers’ cash flow flexibility.

Minister Flack wrote to heads of councils on October 30th to confirm that this deferral would come into force days later, on November 3, 2025. Municipalities that do not charge DCs will remain unaffected.

AMO has worked with the province to secure the following clarity on payments:

• For all developments, including multi-unit buildings (like condos) and subdivisions, the DCs associated with each building are due when the first occupancy permit is issued for the building, or when the first unit in the building is occupied. Since subdivisions typically include many buildings, such as detached homes, AMO will continue to advocate for more clarity on the trigger for subdivision DC payments to mitigate against local municipal-developer disagreements and administrative burden.
• Municipalities cannot require financial security, like a surety bond, for DCs when the building permit is pulled. It is up to the developer as to whether to provide financial security if the municipality requests it.

AMO is pleased that municipal building officials collaborated with the province to draft implementation supports for their peers.

Provincial Legislation Prohibiting Automated Speed Enforcement Receives Royal Assent

Bill 56 which will prohibit municipal use of automated speed enforcement received Royal Assent yesterday. Municipalities will have until November 14th to remove cameras and comply with new provincial signage requirements.

AMO will continue engaging the provincial government on the design of its new road safety funding program and program wind-down costs and challenges.