The world’s most ambitious public housing programme will use as much mass timber as possible to create an entirely new housing industry. That is according to Mark Carney, Canada’s Prime Minister, who doubled down on his commitment to developing an all-new housing agency—Build Canada Homes— “a bold approach and unprecedented investments to increase the housing supply.”
As reported by Wood Central on Tuesday, Build Canada Homes will use federal funding, public land, and regulatory support, alongside private-sector incentives, to establish a CA$13 billion programme to accelerate homebuilding nationwide. The agency will bring “all aspects of housing under one roof,” overseeing everything from emergency shelters to supportive and market-rate housing across urban and rural communities.
“Build Canada Homes will transform the way government works with the private sector to build,” Carney said. “We will create an entirely new housing industry using Canadian technology, Canadian workers, and Canadian resources—and give builders the tools they need to build more, build sustainably, and build at scale.”
To streamline delivery, the government will open public lands and remove bureaucratic hurdles, aiming to cut construction timelines by up to 50 per cent and reduce costs by as much as 20 per cent through the use of innovative housing technologies: “Build Canada Homes will place an intense focus on using cost-efficient and modern methods of construction such as factory-built, modular and mass timber,” Carney said, before adding that it will embrace a Buy Canada policy, which prioritises domestically produced lumber, steel and other materials.
For its first build-out, the agency will directly construct 4,000 homes on six federal sites in Dartmouth (NS), Longueuil (QC), Ottawa and Toronto (ON), Winnipeg (MB) and Edmonton (AB). A CA$1.5 billion fund will acquire at-risk rental buildings to preserve affordability, while CA$1 billion is earmarked for transitional and supportive housing for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Former Toronto Deputy Mayor Ana Bailão will serve as Build Canada Homes’ inaugural CEO, bringing deep expertise in municipal and housing policy to the role.
Yesterday, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada welcomed the plan and is pushing to be “included as an active partner in the development of Build Canada Homes. Architecture and design are essential to its success and to meeting Canada’s climate commitments,” it said. “More good architects should get involved in social housing,” architect Daniel Libeskind said. “Our government is focused on bringing down housing costs,” Carney said. “Central to that mission is rapidly scaling up the supply of homes.”
- To learn more about the plan, click here for Wood Central’s special feature from earlier this week.
