The federal government, together with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), has released its design catalog for standardized homes aimed at alleviating Canada's housing crisis.
Featuring 50 ready-to-use designs – including multiplex houses, terraced houses and townhouses designed to fit into existing districts – the plans are intended to get more projects off the ground by reducing planning and bureaucracy.
“They are a head start for homeowners, builders and communities,” said Daniel Rubinstein, customer solutions consultant at CMHC, in a video announcing the catalog. “They allow them to skip most of the design process and go straight to finalizing designs for a specific site.”
Details include cost estimates for each design, improved layouts, climate resilience guidelines and materials required for construction.
While costs vary by region, the CMHC estimates that building an accessory dwelling in Calgary could cost as little as $275,000, while building a six-plex in Toronto could cost up to $1.9 million.
Overall, the CMHC estimates that a six-plex home in Yellowknife is the most expensive project, with projected costs of up to $5.7 million, compared to the cheapest estimates for a subhouse in Saskatoon priced at just $205,000.
The modernized version is inspired by CMHC's post-war housing design catalogs from the 1940s and 1970s and is part of Prime Minister Mark Carney's multi-billion dollar plan to address Canada's housing crisis. This includes opening up federal land for construction and creating a new agency, Build Canada Homes (BCH), to oversee federal housing programs.
So far, cities across the country have pre-reviewed drafts to simplify permits, including major centers like Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Halifax and Kitchener-Waterloo.
“Like many cities across Canada, Waterloo is growing rapidly and housing supply must keep pace,” Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger said in a news release. “The Housing Design Catalog provides a comprehensive set of tools to quickly create homes in existing neighborhoods – homes that meet the needs of families, whether it’s an accessory dwelling for a family member or a six-family home in the city center.”
However, Carney's plan is not without its critics. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said last month that the federal government should scrap the Liberal plan and implement its own, which includes incentives for municipalities to speed up permitting and cuts in development fees.
Meanwhile, Stephanie Shewchuk, director of housing policy at RBC, warned last month that the BCH relies on cooperation from all levels of government and could face uncertain economic headwinds.
“However, success depends on the ability to bring partners together to quickly implement and achieve its ambitious goals in the context of an uncertain economic environment,” she wrote. “Lack of agreement or clarity on how we can move forward together will weaken trust and impact outcomes, potentially leading to even greater challenges.”
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