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Build Canada Homes is being launched before Parliament’s return on Monday, allowing Prime Minister Mark Carney to check off a campaign promise before returning to the House of Commons.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney will launch Build Canada Homes on Sunday, a new government agency tasked with getting more affordable housing built, and will announce an initial list of six cities where projects will be developed on public lands.
A senior government official told The Globe and Mail that the announcement will include four investments and initiatives, including one focused on developing housing on public lands. The official said the first tranche of sites for these developments will be located in Dartmouth, N.S., Longueil, Que., Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
The government will also announce a transitional and supportive housing initiative, which will be aimed at addressing homelessness and housing insecurity. The official said Ottawa will work with other levels of government to provide wrap-around services, which are additional supports provided to vulnerable individuals.
The Globe is not identifying the senior official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
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Build Canada Homes is being launched just ahead of Parliament’s return on Monday, allowing Mr. Carney to check off another campaign promise before squaring off with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the House of Commons for the first time.
Mr. Carney teased the upcoming announcement during a speech to the Liberal caucus in Edmonton this week, promising that it would be made in the coming days.
The Prime Minister’s public itinerary says that he will tour a modular housing site Sunday afternoon in the National Capital Region and “announce a new initiative to scale up housing construction in Canada.” He will also be accompanied by Housing Minister Gregor Robertson.
Mr. Carney pitched the new government agency during the federal election campaign as a central piece of the government’s plan to double the rate of homebuilding in the country.
He promised at the time that the new agency would act as a developer to build affordable housing, spur innovation in the housing sector and offer low-cost financing to affordable-housing builders.
The government released a document last month on Build Canada Homes, asking stakeholders for feedback on the initial vision of the new agency.
“Build Canada Homes will partner with builders and housing providers that are focused on long-term affordability – including cooperatives, community housing developments or builders that promote attainable homeownership solutions,” the document said.
Non-profit housing advocates and stakeholders have applauded the government for prioritizing non-market housing in its vision for Build Canada Homes. However, they’ve been urging the government to take swift action to spur construction and not wait for the entire organization to be set up first.
Both U.S. tariffs and slowing economic activity have weighed on housing construction, raising concerns that Canada could fall further behind on its homebuilding ambitions.
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Housing starts across Canada’s seven key census metropolitan areas in the first half of 2025 have been flat relative to 2024, according to a recent from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. However, the report said the ”overall stability masked sharp regional differences.”
Housing starts in Toronto, for example, plummeted to the lowest rate since 1996, when adjusting to population.
The CMHC said the continuing construction slowdowns across major metropolitan areas “pose risks to future housing supply, workforce retention and affordability.”
“In the context of trade tensions, economic uncertainty and slower population growth, we expect combined starts across the 7 major CMAs to recover only gradually, with modest improvement by 2027,” the report said.
