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OTTAWA \u2013 The federal housing minister says he wants to ramp up the lagging pace of homebuilding in some provinces by bringing developers off the sidelines and into Ottawa\u2019s affordable housing projects.<\/p>\n
Gregor Robertson also said in an interview that the feds\u2019 new Build Canada Homes agency is working on getting Canadian banks and pension funds to play an active role in financing affordable homes.<\/p>\n
Robertson sat down with The Canadian Press recently as MPs returned to the House of Commons and Prime Minister Mark Carney rolled out the Liberals\u2019 latest affordability policy \u2014 a top-up to the GST credit pitched as a way to help Canadians cope with the rising cost of groceries and other essentials.<\/p>\n
Robertson, a first-time MP turned cabinet minister and the former mayor of Vancouver, acknowledged that housing has long been a pain point for households struggling to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
Nine months into his mandate, Robertson said he is focusing his efforts on the lowest rungs of the housing ladder, where people are most vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very focused on delivering affordable housing as a critical piece for improving affordability in Canada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Build Canada Homes launched in September with an initial $13 billion capitalization. The agency was tasked with scaling up affordable or \u201cnon-market\u201d housing and carries much of the burden of a Liberal promise to double the pace of home construction.<\/p>\n
The term \u201cnon-market\u201d indicates projects that typically have support from government or other sources, allowing units to be rented out below market rates.<\/p>\n
While most Canadians won\u2019t live in non-market housing, Robertson said mixed developments \u2014 with some affordable units and others offered at market rents \u2014 can help to stimulate more activity across the price scale.<\/p>\n
One of the first Build Canada Homes projects announced, the 540-unit Arbo development in Toronto, will be at least 40 per cent affordable housing when complete.<\/p>\n
The Liberals have been trying for years to stimulate homebuilding in Canada, in part by offering funding directly to municipalities to change zoning and lower other barriers to construction.<\/p>\n
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported housing starts were up 5.6 per cent across the country in 2025. The single-digit gain was driven by a flurry of building in Alberta and Quebec, while Ontario and British Columbia saw outright declines.<\/p>\n
CMHC said momentum in new homebuilding was strong in the spring and summer but stalled in the fall.<\/p>\n
Robertson acknowledged the mixed results across the country during his first few months in the housing portfolio.<\/p>\n
He also acknowledged that, in order to meet the Liberals\u2019 lofty homebuilding targets, the bulk of the construction will have to be led by the private sector.<\/p>\n
The pace of that private sector construction is dictated by market conditions \u2014 interest rates, material prices, homebuyer demand \u2014 that are largely outside the government\u2019s control.<\/p>\n
But Robertson said Ottawa will look to smooth out the valleys in the market by \u201ccrowding\u201d investment from the federal government, the provinces and other partners into affordable housing.<\/p>\n
The pitch, as he put it, is that when developers don\u2019t see a business case for a new project in the market, Build Canada Homes can step in to make a proposal for affordable housing more attractive.<\/p>\n
That would, in theory, put some of Canada\u2019s builders to work in a public-supported housing capacity until market conditions improve for private-led developments.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly in markets where the market is slow, we have a big opportunity to redeploy all the talents of industry to building affordable and make best use of this opportunity, which is long overdue,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see a win-win here for the economy and for affordable housing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Moffatt, housing policy expert and founding director of the Missing Middle Institute, said it makes sense for Ottawa to step in \u201cto try and smooth out the natural housing cycles.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the trick will be in the timing. If the government fails to move quickly enough to get new homes approved and construction underway, projects might only ramp up when the market is getting hot again \u2014 effectively missing a window to boost the affordable supply in Canada.<\/p>\n
Scaling up efforts on the non-market side during a lull in construction can also be politically precarious if output then drops off when builders are busy again, Moffatt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople kind of point out, \u2018Well, you were doing 10,000 homes three years ago, and now you\u2019re only doing 2,000 homes, what\u2019s going on here?’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheoretically, I think it makes a great deal of sense. The challenge is both in the implementation and some of the politics involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robertson said Build Canada Homes has a more \u201cnimble\u201d approach than previous government programs.<\/p>\n
The agency has received 450 applications so far from a mix of proponents, the minister said. Some are led by the provinces, some are for community housing proposals and some are led by private sector developers.<\/p>\n
Robertson said his quest to fill the affordable housing gap won\u2019t necessarily mean Ottawa is bankrolling those efforts alone.<\/p>\n
He specifically mentioned Canadian banks and the country\u2019s pension funds as pools of capital he\u2019d like to see deployed for affordable housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that we can attract capital by dramatically reducing the risk with affordable housing projects,\u201d he said. \u201cThe federal government, in partnership with other levels and investors, can de-risk affordable housing and make it a long-term stable investment for Canadian capital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robertson suggested that Build Canada Homes CEO Ana Bailao, former deputy mayor of Toronto, has been working on attracting new sources of capital to Ottawa\u2019s affordable housing strategy and said to \u201cstay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moffatt said it\u2019s not clear to him what tax breaks or other mechanisms the federal government could use to convince big financial institutions to invest in affordable housing.<\/p>\n
By its nature, affordable or social housing tends to be non-profit, Moffatt noted. But pension funds and banks have a duty to their beneficiaries and shareholders to maximize profit.<\/p>\n
\u201cProviding very low-income housing to low-income families is a great thing to do, but by its very nature, it doesn\u2019t doesn\u2019t generate a lot of profit,\u201d Moffatt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the missing ingredient here \u2026 It\u2019s not clear to me how they\u2019re going to pull this off.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 The Canadian Press<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n