Canada’s new $13 billion housing agency is ready to start handing out money.
That's what Ana Bailão, the inaugural CEO of Build Canada Homes, told the Quebec Apartment Investment Conference this past week, adding that developers expecting financing will face a strict reality check.
Bailão said that the capital from the federal government’s agency must act as leverage rather than a primary funding source for megaprojects. She told the Montreal audience not to ask for massive direct loans.
"Please don't send us a request for $3 billion of financing because we don't have it," Bailão said. "But do send us proposals that could unlock $3 billion" of financing.
Bailão instructed companies to use the agency’s email and website before seeking a meeting. "Put your proposal in the portal so at least when we start the conversation the team already has some information," she said. Bailão added that this due diligence allows her team to "have a really constructive conversation" with applicants.
Bailão’s remarks land four months after Prime Minister Mark Carney put her in charge of Build Canada Homes, the centrepiece of his government’s push to double national housing construction.
Her September 2025 appointment marked Ottawa’s shift from designing policy to overseeing real estate construction, as it consolidates federal land, financing tools and approvals under a single agency. She heads an agency that controls 88 federal sites and has a target of creating 4,000 factory-built homes in the first phase.
The program was a response to Canada’s housing crisis that saw apartment vacancy rates fall to as low as 1.5% in 2023, though that rate has since roughly doubled since.
She did not specify what level of affordable housing will be required in the projects but sees a role for both developers and non-profits in the new housing initiatives. "We are here to bring the people that do the best in their field to the table," Bailão declared. "Developers develop. The non-profits operate excellent non-profit housing.”
Build Canada Homes accepts proposals from private developers, non-profit housing providers, and municipal or Indigenous governments. Developers are responsible for rapid delivery using modular or mass‑timber construction, while non-profits oversee long‑term operations and affordability.
BCH said it is prioritizing projects that can be industrialized, scaled, and delivered quickly on federal land, and it is declining proposals that rely on the agency as the primary lender, depend on conventional slow-build methods, or lack a qualified non-profit operator for the affordable component.