Affordable Backyard Housing Programs
Updated: Dec 21, 2020
Toronto is amidst an exciting transformation beneficial to homeowners. The city has come up with some programs for qualifying properties to facilitate with the promotion and construction of ancillary units.

Development Charges Deferral
Secondary Dwelling units are accompanied with a lot of hidden but mandatory fees, which make the decision of building it much more expensive than initially calculated.
The Development Charges Deferral program allows external financing of some of these hidden costs by allowing development charges to be deferred for twenty years post construction, making secondary units an affordable choice as they are meant to be.
Laneway Suite Pilot Program
This program provides a remarkable opportunity to reduce the fiscal burden on homeowners when building a secondary unit. It offers up to $50,000 in forgivable loans to eligible property owners, which will be forgiven for fifteen years from when the first tenant occupies the secondary unit.
This program is intended for homeowners who will be renting out their secondary unit in order to provide affordable housing around Toronto, and hence these units are to be rented out for under the average market rent.