Build Canada Homes agency officially launches with $13B

Key Takeaways:

• Ottawa has launched Build Canada Homes, a new federal agency with $13 billion in initial funding to accelerate affordable housing construction, using federal lands and streamlined approvals.
• The agency will emphasize factory-built, modular and mass timber construction to cut timelines by up to 50% and costs by 20%, while applying a new Buy Canadian policy to boost domestic industries.
• Ana Bailão, former Toronto deputy mayor, has been appointed as CEO, with initial projects including 4,000 homes on six federal sites and programs to protect rental housing and expand supportive housing.

The Whole Story:

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced the creation of a new federal agency tasked with building affordable housing at scale, saying it will be central to tackling Canada’s housing crisis.

The agency, called Build Canada Homes, will focus on building transitional and supportive housing, community housing for low-income households and affordable homes for middle-class families. It will also work with provinces, municipalities and Indigenous communities.

Carney said the new body will be capitalized with $13 billion and given access to federal lands through the transfer of Canada Lands Company. The portfolio includes 88 properties spanning 463 hectares across the country.

The initiative is designed to double housing construction, reduce homelessness and restore affordability. Build Canada Homes will emphasize modular, factory-built and mass timber construction, with the aim of cutting building times by half and lowering costs by as much as 20 per cent.

“Build Canada Homes will transform the way government works with the private sector to build,” Carney said in a statement. “We will create an entirely new housing industry using Canadian technology, Canadian workers and Canadian resources.”

The agency will also adopt a “Buy Canadian” policy, prioritizing the use of domestic lumber, steel, aluminum and other building materials.

Ana Bailão, a former Toronto city councillor and deputy mayor, has been appointed as the agency’s first chief executive officer. Bailão previously spearheaded Toronto’s Housing Now program and most recently worked in the private sector on affordable housing projects.

Initial projects include six federal land sites in Dartmouth, Longueuil, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton. The sites are expected to support 4,000 factory-built homes, with additional capacity for up to 45,000 units.

The agency will also oversee a $1.5-billion rental protection fund to help community groups purchase at-risk apartment buildings, as well as a $1-billion program to build transitional and supportive housing. In Nunavut, it will partner with the territorial housing corporation to develop more than 700 new units.

Housing Minister Gregor Robertson said the program is about “building better and building bolder,” while Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne called it “an ambitious step” that will also create skilled jobs.

Build Canada Homes will operate initially as a special agency within the Housing, Infrastructure and Communities department, before becoming a standalone entity next year.