CHRA welcomes Build Canada Homes

The Canadian Housing and Renewal Association congratulates Minister Gregor Robertson and the Government of Canada on the creation of Build Canada Homes.

This new agency is an important step toward addressing the housing crisis—building homes at speed and scale, ensuring affordability, and listening to the community housing sector.

We also congratulate Ana Bailão on her nomination as Chief Executive Officer of the BCH agency. We look forward to working with Ana and the Build Canada Homes team to deliver the homes communities need most.

Together, we can build a stronger, fairer, and more resilient housing system for all Canadians.

Read CHRA's full statement

CHRA Advocacy on Build Canada Homes

Build Canada Homes (BCH) was proposed during the federal election campaign as a new federal housing entity aimed at massively scaling up the government’s role in affordable housing development. The plan’s goal is to double Canada’s residential construction to nearly 500,000 units annually, aiming to reverse decades of under-building and address the national housing crisis. Read the summary below to see how BCH was described in the 2025 Liberal Platform.

As the national voice of community housing, CHRA is working to ensure that Build Canada Homes reflects the needs, experiences, expertise, and priorities of the community housing sector.

Core Functions of BCH

  1. Develop at scale: BCH will build or support the building of housing, including on public land, by taking over programs from CMHC.
  2. Industry catalyst: BCH will mobilize Canadian prefab and factory-based home builders to reduce costs and accelerate construction timelines.
  3. Affordable housing financing: BCH will offer $10 billion in low-cost capital, including $4 billion in fixed-rate financing and $6 billion towards rapidly building deeply affordable housing, supportive housing, Indigenous housing, and shelters. This will include an earmark of $2 billion for new housing targeting seniors and students.

Market Reforms & Leveraging Assets
BCH was proposed to work alongside broader reforms, including:

  • Halving municipal development charges for multi-unit housing;
  • reviving the Multiple Unit Rental Building (MURB) tax incentive;
  • reducing tax liabilities for private owners converting property to non‑profit or rental housing; and
  • cutting red tape, harmonizing approvals, and enabling faster project launches, effectively creating a unified national housing market rather than fragmented local systems.

CHRA Advocacy and Engagement with the Federal Government

Building Affordability into Build Canada Homes

At the end of August 2025, CHRA submitted Building Affordability into Build Canada Homes - our submission in response to the Build Canada Homes Market Sounding Guide, informed by a series of engagements and consultations with CHRA members.

Recommendations:

  1. Prioritize community housing in all developments, with community housing organizations in a lead position.
  2. Set ambitious targets for the number of community housing units that significantly exceed the current targets under National Housing Strategy programs.
  3. Adopt a single income-based definition framework for affordability.
  4. Support the significant growth of supportive housing across the country.
  5. Commit a minimum of 20 percent of resources to For-Indigenous, By-Indigenous (FIBI) housing in urban, rural, and northern contexts.
  6. Work to address the historic housing gap Indigenous people face by:
    1. aligning with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, the Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP);
    2. explicitly recognize and address urban, rural, and northern Indigenous housing needs;
    3. establish Indigenous-led governance to guide BCH decision-making; and
    4. create a culturally safe housing framework with distinctions-inclusive delivery.
  7. Encourage a portfolio-based approach and allow a pathway for smaller portfolios or single projects where circumstances warrant.
  8. Integrate federal resources, including predevelopment funding, into a single funding and financing window.
  9. Improve alignment between program requirements of other orders of government.
  10. Accept a balanced approach to risk to encourage additional sources of capital.
  11. Phase in requirements for modern methods of construction.
  12. Ensure the delivery of shovel-ready projects already progressing through or working toward existing federal programs.
  13. Clarify potential BCH roles regarding developments on federal land and on non-profit owned land.
  14. Structure lease agreements to maximize operational flexibility and minimize unnecessary federal oversight.
  15. Eventually transfer ownership of BCH funded developments to community housing organizations to strengthen the sector’s permanent capacity.
  16. Rely on the development experience of community housing organizations to develop properties where available and appropriate.
  17. Build long-term sector capacity when BCH takes on a direct development role.
  18. Provide reliable, stable, long-term sources of capital to help community housing organizations plan for growth, scale up, and increase their capacity.
  19. Amplify impact and uptake by investing in the capacity and growth of the non-market community housing sector through a Canada Community Housing Growth Fund.

Read the full submission.

Build Canada Homes CHRA Workshop Report

At the end of June 2025, CHRA hosted an in-person workshop in Ottawa to help shape our approach to Build Canada Homes. CHRA members shared practical ideas and insights on how to deliver more affordable community housing, and the workshop concluded with a dialogue with federal officials, including Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Gregor Robertson.

CHRA released Accelerating the Creation of New Community Housing in September, 2025; a report that summarizes the key takeaways from the community housing providers that participated in the workshop.

The workshop facilitation process generated five key insights:

  1. Community Housing at the Centre: As experts in creating and delivering long-term affordable housing options, community housing providers need to be central partners in the co-design and delivery of government processes and programs.
  2. Urgency and Momentum: The sector is ready, with active development pipelines and growing capacity, but needs decisive government action to minimize any delays or uncertainty that risk losing existing and proposed projects.
  3. Predictability and Scaling: Unpredictable funding and overly complex application processes make it difficult to plan or scale – sustained long-term funding mechanisms that support portfolio-level development are essential for achieving scale.
  4. Simplification and Speed: Complex, opaque, and duplicative processes slow delivery and drain resources. Streamlining approvals, underwriting, and decision-making processes are critical enablers to speed and scale.
  5. Deep Affordability and Indigenous Housing: Deeply affordable housing must remain a core objective, and there is an urgent need for dedicated funding and governance structures that reflect Indigenous leadership and rights.

Read the full report.

Sector Response to the Build Canada Homes Market Sounding Guide

The community housing sector across Canada submitted a joint response to the Build Canada Homes Market Sounding Guide at the end of August 2025.

Non-profit housing associations collectively ask that the federal government prioritize: affordability, aggregating development, facilitating growth, accountability, risk, and partnership in the design of Build Canada Homes.

Read the letter.