Build Canada Homes: A Step Forward, But Still Missing the North Star

The Carney government’s new Build Canada Homes agency deploys many of the solutions Generation Squeeze has been championing for years. We welcome its commitment to:

• Using federal lands to lower development costs,
• Prioritizing non-market housing so affordability is locked in over the long-term,
• Utilizing lower-carbon construction models to leave a cleaner legacy for future generations, and
• Retaining and upgrading existing affordable rental stock so today’s homes remain affordable tomorrow.

These are all recommendations in the Generation Squeeze Housing Policy Solutions Framework — our comprehensive plan to restore affordability for all, forever. It’s encouraging to see the Carney government embrace these ideas and embed them within a broader strategy that also aims to bolster jobs and the Canadian economy by relying on made-in-Canada materials and domestic supply chains.

Despite these strengths, Build Canada Homes sidesteps a critical piece: what is our goal for home values?

The latest Canadian Real Estate Association data show the national average home price is down slightly from peak highs a few years ago. That’s good news — incremental progress that helps affordability by giving earnings a chance to catch up.

But this progress is fragile. Modest declines in B.C. and Ontario are masking sustained price growth in most other provinces. With the Bank of Canada poised to cut interest rates, cheaper credit will almost certainly reignite mortgage-borrowing — and with it, upward pressure on home values nationwide.

That’s why focusing only on the number of builds isn’t enough. Without a north star for the trajectory of home prices — a clear commitment to whether they should rise, stall, or fall — governments risk pulling policy levers in opposite directions: adding supply with one hand, while fueling price inflation with the other.

Restoring affordability forever requires coherence. Governments must align market- and non-market supply strategies with measures to rein in harmful speculative demand, all around a shared goal: reconnecting the cost of housing to what Canadians earn. Without this clarity, even ambitious plans like Build Canada Homes will likely fall short.