Housing News: Canada Launches Build Canada Homes

NEW FEDERAL HOUSING AGENCY BUILD CANADA HOMES LAUNCHES SEPT 14, 2025

On September 14, 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the creation of Build Canada Homes (BCH), a new federal agency dedicated to rapidly expanding Canada’s affordable housing supply. With an initial investment of $13 billion, BCH will serve as a one-stop shop to coordinate federal investment, public lands, private sector capacity, and modern construction methods with the goal of doubling housing construction and restoring affordability.

The agency’s mandate is wide-reaching. It will build affordable, community, and transitional housing, while also partnering with private developers to deliver homes for the middle class. A key feature of BCH is access to public lands. The Canada Lands Company has been transferred to the new agency, giving BCH control of 88 federal properties across 463 hectares and removing land costs from projects to make homes more affordable.

Build Canada Homes will emphasize innovative building methods such as factory-built, modular, and mass timber housing. These modern construction techniques are designed to cut timelines by as much as half, reduce costs, and lower emissions. Wherever possible, BCH will prioritize low-carbon materials and efficient design, while the federal government’s new Buy Canadian policy will ensure that Canadian lumber, steel, aluminum, and mass timber are at the centre of these projects.

Ana Bailão, former Toronto Deputy Mayor and long-time housing advocate, has been appointed CEO of the agency. Under her leadership, Build Canada Homes has already announced its first initiatives, including the development of six federal sites in Dartmouth, Longueuil, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton, which will deliver 4,000 factory-built homes with the capacity for tens of thousands more. BCH will also launch a $1.5 billion Canada Rental Protection Fund to preserve at-risk affordable rental housing, invest $1 billion in transitional and supportive housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and partner with the Nunavut Housing Corporation to build more than 700 public and supportive housing units.

By leveraging federal land, advancing low-carbon construction, and bringing together governments, Indigenous partners, and industry, Build Canada Homes marks one of the most ambitious efforts yet to tackle Canada’s housing crisis and deliver homes Canadians can afford.