Ontario Construction News staff writer
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced the creation of a new federal agency, Build Canada Homes, to oversee large-scale construction of affordable housing across the country.
The agency will focus on building transitional and supportive housing, community housing for low-income families, and so-called “affordable” units for middle-class Canadians. Build Canada Homes will also have authority over federal lands deemed suitable for development.
According to Carney, 88 sites totalling 463 hectares have been identified so far.
The agency launches with an initial $13-billion budget and plans to use public lands, flexible financing, and partnerships with provinces, municipalities, Indigenous communities, and private developers. It is also expected to prioritize modular and factory-built housing, as well as domestic materials such as Canadian lumber and steel.
Ana Bailão, a former Toronto deputy mayor and current housing executive, has been appointed CEO. Bailão previously helped spearhead Toronto’s “Housing Now” program, which used city-owned lands for residential development.
Among the agency’s first initiatives:
- Building 4,000 factory-built homes on six federal sites in cities including Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.
- A $1.5-billion rental protection fund to help non-profits purchase older buildings and keep them affordable.
- $1-billion for transitional and supportive housing aimed at people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The long-term goal is to double housing construction, cut building times and costs, and reduce homelessness, Carney said.
Critics, however, note that similar promises in the past have failed to keep pace with rising demand and question whether $13 billion and the current timelines are sufficient to make a meaningful dent in affordability.
Further details are expected in the upcoming federal budget.
Carney said that the new agency will also look to speed up the permitting process, by giving the “green light” to bulk projects.
The agency uses the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation definition of “affordable housing”, which is costing less than 30 per cent of pre-tax household income.
Build Canada Homes is meant to be the main agency overseeing affordable housing projects that involve the federal government.
“Build Canada Homes will prioritize the use of cost-efficient and modern methods of construction, including factory build, modular and mass timber,” Carney said.
Factory-build homes, he said, can be mass-produced in controlled settings and assembled in days, enabling construction to happen in the winter.
This will include a partnership with the Nunavut Housing Corporation to build some homes off site. The partnership with Build Canada Homes is expected to build 700 homes, about 30 per cent of which will be built off site and shipped to Nunavut, Carney said.
He said the agency will also adopt the federal government’s recently announced “Buy Canadian” policy, which is meant to prioritize the use of Canadian materials and inputs as a way to help bolster the economy in the face of U.S. tariffs.