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Canada’s Mark Carney pledges modular-led boom in affordable housing.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to deliver 500,000 new homes per year through modular and prefabricated construction, in what he is calling “Canada’s most ambitious housing plan since the Second World War.” (main pic: Cover illustration from Canada’s 1950s modular housing catalogue.)
The plan includes the creation of Build Canada Homes (BCH), a new federal entity that will act as developer and financier, overseeing modular housing projects on public and private land. BCH will supply CAD$25 billion (AUD$28 billion) in debt financing and CAD$1 billion (AUD$1.12 billion) in equity to “innovative Canadian prefabricated home builders,” Carney said.
“The way we build homes needs to change — prefabricated and modular housing will play a big role in the future,” Carney told media in Vaughan, Ontario. “They can drive down the time to completion by up to 50 per cent, they’re cheaper to build by up to 20 per cent, and they’re a more sustainable way to build, producing 22 per cent fewer emissions than traditional construction methods.”
Bulk orders of modular units will be issued by BCH to establish consistent demand, with a focus on using Canadian timber and local manufacturing. Carney said the strategy would catalyse a new domestic housing industry while expanding apprenticeship pathways and high-skilled jobs.
“We want Canada to be the world leader in this new, innovative industry. We should be that leader,” he said.
Alongside modular investment, the Liberals will channel an additional CAD$10 billion (AUD$11.2 billion) into low-cost financing and grants for affordable housing. CAD$4 billion (AUD$4.5 billion) will be directed to fixed-rate financing, and CAD$6 billion (AUD$6.7 billion) to building deeply affordable, Indigenous, student, and seniors housing.
Carney said the plan is grounded in historic precedent. “We solved a housing crisis before in our past, we can solve the housing crisis now,” he said. “Canada built its way out of that crisis into postwar economic strength.”
Watch Carney’s explanation
Other measures include halving development taxes on multi-unit housing for five years — a move Carney said will save CAD$40,000 (AUD$44,800) on the cost of a two-bedroom apartment in Toronto — and the reintroduction of the Multiple Unit Rental Building tax allowance to boost rental supply.
Carney emphasised speed and coordination as central. “My new Liberal government is flipping the script on housing with a new approach to build faster, build smarter, and to build more affordably,” he said. “We’re going to unleash the power of public-private cooperation at a scale not seen in generations.”
Find Canada’s modular Housing Design Catalogue webpage HERE
