The newly created Build Canada Homes agency will oversee plans to build 4,000 homes on six federally owned sites, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday.
Specific locations for the homes have not yet been announced, but Carney said they will be in Dartmouth, N.S., Longueuil, Que., Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
Construction is expected to begin on the first of these homes next year, according to a senior government official.
“The core challenge present in the housing market is it’s just too hard to build,” Carney said at a press conference in Nepean.
Carney said he’s asked his colleagues to identify land owned by government departments that can be used for housing, which will be added to the list of 88 properties on the Canada Land Bank that are available.
He said this will “help lower costs for builders and most importantly, lower the rents and new home prices for Canadian families.”
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The government’s rental protection fund, which helps community housing groups purchase private rental units in order to keep them affordable, will continue under Build Canada Homes.
The new agency is will also include a $1 billion fund for transitional housing projects aimed to help people at risk of homelessness.
Build Canada Homes is meant to be the main agency overseeing affordable housing projects that involve the federal government.
“Build Canada Homes will prioritize the use of cost-efficient and modern methods of construction, including factory build, modular and mass timber factory build housing,” Carney said.
He said the agency will also adopt the federal government’s recently announced “Buy Canadian” policy, which is meant to prioritize the use of Canadian materials and inputs as a way to help bolster the economy in the face of U.S. tariffs.
The agency’s CEO, Ana Bailão, is a former Toronto city councillor and deputy mayor who has served on the board of Toronto Community Housing.
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