The federal government named a retired Alberta senior federal executive as the new president and CEO of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and a former Edmonton mayor as chair of the Crown corporation.
Coleen Volk is returning to head up Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., or CMHC, as its chief executive after serving in various leadership roles at the Crown corporation from 1996 to 2005. In addition to naming Volk president and CEO, CMHC tapped Don Iveson to be its new chair. Iveson served as mayor of Edmonton from 2013 to 2021.
"Together, we will work on today's challenges to build the housing system of the future," Volk said in a statement.
The top job at CMHC became vacant when Romy Bowers said she was departing to join the International Monetary Fund. A search for a replacement had been ongoing since January. Iveson takes over the chair position from Derek Ballantyne who had been in the job since 2018.
"I look forward to working closely with both Volk and the CMHC board in the coming years to progress on the government's efforts to deliver on Canada's housing priorities," said Sean Fraser, the federal minister of housing, infrastructure and communities, and minister responsible for CMHC, in a statement. "I also want to thank the outgoing members of the board for their hard work and dedication. Canada is better for your service,"
CMHC advises the government on policy and is also the national convenor in the housing finance system. The Crown corporation said its mandate is "to promote housing affordability and choice, facilitate access to, and competition and efficiency in the provision of, housing finance, protect the availability of adequate funding for housing at low cost, and generally contribute to the well-being of the housing sector in the national economy."
CMHC has said there is an affordability crisis and the country needs an additional 3.5 million houses by 2030, beyond the current pace of construction.
Before Volk's retirement in 2022, she spent six years working in high-level positions in the Alberta government. For more than 10 years she held executive roles within the federal government.