This is the first installment of a three-part series dedicated to understanding how the commercial real estate sector can leverage Build Canada Homes (BCH) and work collaboratively with the federal government to address Canada’s affordability crisis. This blog situates BCH within the recent market conditions and explains why the federal government has moved toward a more delivery-oriented role in housing production.
Background
Federal involvement in housing development has historically been accomplished through a combination of tax policy, mortgage financing and insurance, model standards, and cost-shared infrastructure spending. Despite the fact that housing is a mixed responsibility among federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments, in recent decades other levels of government and the private sector have been far more involved in Canada’s housing delivery.
Federal housing policy has focused on improving access to capital and shaping incentives, while practical constraints affecting housing supply, such as land availability, approval timelines, construction coordination and delivery capacity, have remained largely outside federal control. Non-financing constraints to development, such as rising construction costs, skyrocketing development costs/taxes, labour shortages and lengthening municipal approval processes have all impacted costs of housing delivery, indirectly mitigating any programs from the federal government intended to ease development financing.
The Creation of Build Canada Homes
On September 14, 2025, the federal government launched BCH as a new federal agency tasked with accelerating the delivery of affordable housing across Canada, with an initial capitalization of C$13 billion. BCH’s stated goal is to partner with the private and not-for-profit sectors to build non-market and affordable housing at scale.
BCH intends to combine planning, financing, and construction capacity within a single federal entity by leveraging federal lands, deploying flexible financial tools, and supporting public and private partnerships. A key feature of the initiative is its emphasis on modern methods of construction, including modular, factory-built and prefabricated housing, as a means of improving cost predictability and reducing delivery timelines.
The Build Canada Homes Act
On February 5, 2026, Bill C-20, the Build Canada Homes Act (the Act), was introduced in the House of Commons. The Act establishes BCH as a federal Crown corporation with a mandate to expand the supply of affordable housing in Canada. This institutional shift is significant. Crown corporation status provides BCH with operation independence, dedicated governance, and long-term continuity, signaling that housing delivery is no longer intended to be a time-limited programmatic initiative but a permanent federal function.
Following BCH’s initial launch, BCH has already advanced six Direct Build projects in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Longueuil, Quebec; Ottawa, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba and Edmonton, Alberta. BCH also secured four major partnerships, with the City of Ottawa, the provinces of Nova Scotia and Quebec, and a tripartite agreement with Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, representing more than 7,500 new homes. In Direct Build projects BCH plays an active role in project delivery through controlling federal land, leading early-stage planning and procurement, and structuring development arrangements.
BCH’s mandate works in concert with the Buy Canadian initiative. This federal policy prioritizes Canadian materials, labour, and manufacturing capacity in public procurement, including in housing construction. BCH is expected to support these objectives by enabling replicable designs and scalable domestic supply chains.
BCH’s partners include other federal institutions with land, infrastructure, or housing mandates, while private-sector and non-profit partners are engaged to provide development, construction, and long-term operational expertise. In these arrangements, BCH is positioned as a coordinating counterparty, aligning land, capital and delivery objectives, rather than displacing existing housing providers or developers.
Notably, BCH will operate alongside Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and work to coordinate funding decisions. CMHC will continue to focus on mortgage insurance, financing programs and housing market analysis, including the administration of the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF), a federal program that provides low-cost loans and contributions to support the construction, repair and renewal of affordable and non-market housing. Projects submitted through AHF may also be considered for BCH support, with the objective of directing each project to the federal tool best suited to its scale, complexity and delivery needs.
BCH reflects a shift toward a more active federal role in housing delivery (or for those with a long enough memory, a "return" to a more active federal role), although the program’s practical effectiveness is yet to be seen. Part II of this series will examine BCH’s Investment Policy Framework, eligibility criteria and partnership models, and explore what “project readiness,” affordability and scale mean for developers, non-profit providers, Indigenous partners and institutional investors seeking to engage with BCH. Part III of this series will examine the implementation of BCH across the country and assess its impact, while also considering the challenges that lie ahead for BCH and the commercial real estate sector.
Key Takeaways
- BCH is a shift from a facilitative to a delivery-oriented federal role in housing, positioning the federal government not only as a financier, but as an active participant in housing production.
- The Act entrenches housing delivery as a core federal function by establishing BCH as a Crown corporation with a statutory mandate, governance structure and operational permanence.
- By combining land, capital and construction coordination within a single entity, BCH is designed to address non-financial bottlenecks that have historically limited housing supply, particularly in high-cost urban areas.
- BCH is intended to complement, not replace, CMHC, pairing CMHC’s financing and insurance tools with a federally led delivery model focused on execution and speed.
- Together, BCH and the Act represent a federal policy reset, reflecting a deliberate move away from temporary programs toward long-term institutional capacity for housing delivery.
