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On September 14, 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the launch of Build Canada Homes ("BCH"), a new federal agency designed to address Canada's housing crisis through scale, speed and innovation. BCH will begin as a special operating agency within Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, before transitioning into a standalone entity.
BCH's mandate is expansive: to build affordable community housing for low-income households, transitional housing for those at risk of homelessness and affordable homes for middle-income Canadians. "Affordable" means costing no more than 30% of pretax income, based on the median household income in a given region. The agency will also work across jurisdictions – partnering with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous communities and private developers – to catalyse a new Canadian housing industry. With an initial budget of $13 billion, BCH will offer flexible financial incentives, bulk permitting and access to federal lands to reduce development costs and timelines.
The first tranche of BCH's mission includes four key initiatives:
- overseeing the construction of 4,000 homes on six federally owned sites in Dartmouth, Longueuil, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton, with construction expected to begin in 2026;
- launching the $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund, modelled after British Columbia's equivalent program, to help community housing groups acquire at-risk rental buildings and to prevent redevelopment;
- deploying $1 billion for transitional and supportive housing, paired with employment and healthcare supports; and
- partnering with the Nunavut Housing Corporation to build over 700 supportive housing units in the North, with 30% constructed off-site using modular methods.
Prime Minister Carney has further instructed ministers to identify additional departmental lands suitable for housing, adding to the 88 properties already held under the Canada Lands Company spanning over 460 hectares.
BCH also aims to employ innovative construction technologies such as factory-built housing, modular systems and mass timber. The federal government anticipates that these methods will halve building timelines and reduce both costs and carbon emissions by approximately 20%. In alignment with the Buy Canadian Policy recently launched by the federal government, BCH will prioritise domestic materials and inputs, strengthening Canadian supply chains and supporting careers in construction and manufacturing.
For developers and lenders, BCH represents a significant shift in federal housing policy – one that consolidates existing programs and introduces a centralised "one-stop shop" for affordable housing delivery. McCarthy Tétrault's Real Property & Planning Group will continue to track developments and advise clients on how to engage with BCH and leverage its programs for housing projects across Canada.
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