Pushing ahead with its $13 billion Build Canada Homes project, Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government has appointed Ana Bailão to lead the operation as its first CEO. Bailão most recently had an executive position at Dream Unlimited, and prior to that spent over a decade on Toronto City Council.
Carney described the launch as central to his government’s promise to double housing construction and restore affordability. “Canada’s new government is relentlessly focused on bringing down housing costs. Central to that mission is rapidly scaling up the supply of homes," he said in a statement. "Build Canada Homes will transform the way government works with the private sector to build."
The move follows the Liberal Party of Canada’s vow to tackle the Canadian housing crisis resulting in the national residential vacancy rate of 2.2% in 2024 and 1.5% in 2023, well below the 3% considered a desirable balance between supply and demand.
The push to build more homes comes as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said earlier this year that the mission of returning housing affordability to levels seen in 2019 would require between 430,000 and 480,000 residential units to be built every year over the next decade, double the current pace of construction.
The agency will be capitalized with billions in federal funding and is positioned as a one-stop shop for affordable housing, consolidating land, financing and approvals to help housing projects advance faster.
Housing shortage easing
The housing crisis could be past its peak, however, as Canada has decreased the number of international students it allows into the country.
Meanwhile, asking rents for residential units in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary have been declining, indicating a drop in demand. In the province of Quebec, the Institut de la statistique du Québec projects that the total number of residents will decline by 80,000 by 2030, with the island of Montreal losing 201,000 residents.
The Build Canada Homes project is set to begin with six federal sites in Dartmouth, New Brunswick; Longueuil, Quebec; Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Edmonton, Alberta. The project aims to first deliver 4,000 factory-built homes, with capacity across the portfolio for up to 45,000 units.
Bailão said in a statement that the federal government program will work closely with private real estate companies in the program. “At Build Canada Homes, we are bringing together government, industry, and communities to build homes faster, smarter, and more sustainably,” she said.
The program will rely on modular and factory-built housing to decrease construction timelines by half and achieve 20% savings. The Canada Lands Company, a Crown corporation that manages real estate for the federal government, would be put under the control of the Build Canada Homes Program to capitalize on building possibilities on the 88 federal sites it oversees.
Sean Fraser, minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, emphasized that the agency will change how homes are built and make them more affordable, while Gregor Robertson, minister of housing and infrastructure, said it is “not just about building more – it’s about building better and building bolder.”
The Build Canada Homes initiative increases federal involvement in the residential real estate sector. The Carney government has pledged that its budget for 2025 will add further measures.