Mississauga prepares for an influx of townhouses, garden suites and affordable housing

Mississauga—the land of cookie-cutter sprawl and oddly experimental skyscrapers—is making a policy pivot. Despite a cooling housing market, the average rent for a one-bedroom in the city still hovers above $2,000, making Toronto’s cousin to the west the eighth most expensive place to rent in the country.

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In an effort to spur more purpose-built rental projects, Mississauga city council has approved a motion to eliminate development charges for one-bedroom-plus-den and two-bedroom units. Development charges, which builders pay to help fund infrastructure like roads and transit, can add tens of thousands of dollars per unit to construction costs. By waiving them for mid-size apartments, the city hopes to make rental proposals more financially viable and therefore increase supply.

The move is part of Mayor Carolyn Parrish’s broader push to accelerate housing construction. In 2024, she launched a Housing Task Force to help the city meet the province’s target of 120,000 new homes by 2034.

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In addition to development charge relief, Mississauga has introduced several complementary measures: a federally funded $44-million affordable housing program to stimulate new builds, zoning changes to allow townhouses on smaller lots in established residential neighbourhoods, free pre-approved design plans for garden suites, and a gentle-density program offering grants to cover city fees and development charges for fourplexes built on low-rise residential lots.