With the rapid rise of big industry at St. Thomas’s Yarmouth Yards industrial park, so comes the demand for housing. It’s something Mayor Joe Preston knows all too well. “The price just dropped for every home in town. Because normally the development charge would have been tacked on to the new build,” he said. Preston was on hand in a new section of the Shaw Valley subdivision, as federal and provincial officials announced more than $19.6 million in funding to help cover development charges over three years. “There are a lot of new locates to the area,” explained Russell Higgins, President, MacPherson Builders. “So, the addition of rental housing stock is key for the time being. Ultimately these people will move to home ownership,” he explained. The funding is from the Development Charge Reduction Program (DCRP). For single detached homes and multi-unit housing, the city has committed to a 30 per cent reduction on development charges. For other types of housing, 50 per cent. “When you combine with HST relief, and the DCRP reduction, here in St. Thomas it can be anywhere from $80 to $135,000 off the price of one of these new homes,” said Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack, who serves as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “There’s a housing crisis, and this is what we need in this moment. And it’s really great to see all levels of government working together,” remarked London West MP, Arielle Kayabaga. The program will fund the development charges for more than 3,700 new homes. For many would-be homeowners, hidden costs, such as development charges, are what’s standing in the way of home-ownership. “Anything we can do to promote sales, i.e., dropping the price of a house while still making an acceptable margin to build the houses, we’re going to pass it through to the homeowners,” said Higgins. The program is in effect for three years, from March 30, 2026 to March 31, 2029.
