Bill C-20

Build Canada Homes Act

An Act respecting the establishment of Build Canada Homes

This enactment establishes Build Canada Homes as a Crown corporation. The purpose of Build Canada Homes is to promote, support and develop the supply of affordable housing in Canada and to promote innovative and efficient building techniques in the housing construction sector in Canada. The enactment, among other things,
(a) sets out the powers of Build Canada Homes and its governance framework;
(b) authorizes the Minister of Finance to make payments out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to fund the operations and activities of Build Canada Homes; and
(c) provides that the Governor in Council may transfer to Build Canada Homes the property, rights, interests and obligations held by any Crown corporation or subsidiary of a Crown corporation and may issue directives for measures to be taken in relation to the reorganization of Canada Lands Company Limited or any of its subsidiaries.
It also includes transitional provisions, makes a consequential amendment to the Financial Administration Act and contains coordinating amendments.

Build Canada Homes Act

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have been pointing out is that the bill is only adding a fourth bureaucracy to the government. I am wondering why the ministry cannot just fund some of these projects on its own. Why does it need a second party to do that? Is it perhaps because the government wants to distance itself from when this operation gives a whole bunch of money to Brookfield?

[Jacob Mantle, Conservative, York—Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in short, to answer the member's question, the government does not need this. It had all the tools before it, but instead it has created a new, shiny object to put in the window to distract from its failure.

Also, the government does not even have a target. The Prime Minister says 500,000 new homes and Build Canada Homes says that it actually does not have a target, so who knows what this agency, this new Crown corporation, will achieve. I hope for the best for young Canadians, but I will plan for the worst.

[John-Paul Danko, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Sherbrooke.

Housing affordability is one of the defining challenges that Canadians face today. Across this country and in my community of Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, families are really concerned about the cost of housing and whether their children are going to be able to afford a home in their community.

Build Canada Homes is an important step forward in addressing the housing supply crisis across Canada. I want to begin by acknowledging plainly that the cost of housing is far too high. While incomes have been increasing, we are nowhere near the sustainable market that we need where the average income earner can afford an average-priced home. Young Canadians are feeling locked out while renters are feeling squeezed. Parents worry whether their children will be able to live in the communities where they grew up, and seniors cannot afford to downsize in their own community.

My kids are 17 and 19, and as a parent, I think about this often. My children are at the age when they are starting to look towards independence. They are going off to university. They are building a life of their own, just like so many kids in so many families across Hamilton. I want them to have those opportunities to be able to stay in Hamilton, get a job and be able to afford the lifestyle that they deserve. A big part of that is being able to afford a home in their community in Hamilton.

I do believe Hamilton is a city of tremendous opportunities. We have strong industries, amazing opportunities in the skilled trades and small businesses, access to nature and vibrant communities and neighbourhoods, but those opportunities only exist if housing is affordable and attainable.

Before being elected to this role, I served nearly two terms on Hamilton city council. A significant portion of that was as the chair of Hamilton's planning committee. I also worked as a licensed professional engineer in the construction industry. I have worked on construction sites and navigated the approvals process, so I understand how homes actually get built. I do acknowledge and understand how easily projects can be delayed or be made unviable through permitting and business cases.

Over the past several years, the City of Hamilton has been very proactive and has taken significant steps to enable housing development and construction. The City of Hamilton modernized zoning to allow more as-of-right development, expanded permissions for secondary dwelling units and reduced parking minimums. They set a firm urban boundary and protected the greenbelt from development, and promoted smart, sustainable infill growth throughout the city. I really believe that Hamilton is a leader across Canada when it comes to municipal housing reforms to make sure that the permitting and permissions are in place to get as much housing built as possible.

A really important part of that was the implementation of the City of Hamilton housing secretariat. This created a real housing strategy, with centralized accountability and faster approvals for housing projects across the city. That structure is making a measurable difference.

Hamilton and representatives from all levels of government have been working with the housing development industry to ensure good quality developments are approved for construction as quickly as possible. In fact, the City of Hamilton recently implemented a 20% decrease in citywide development charges, applying to both residential and non-residential development, with the goal of boosting housing construction and promoting jobs during the difficult downturn in the construction market.

The housing secretariat is currently prioritizing over 30 projects within a three-year investment plan that is expected to deliver, at minimum, 2,100 new affordable housing units, of which 511 will be supportive units and 138 attainable, low-income or geared-to-income special markets.

We are hearing from the mayor and council that Hamilton's application through the Build Canada Homes fund will be targeting 4,500 new housing units, leveraging hundreds of millions of dollars in private, institutional and public funding across all levels of government. That is the plan moving forward, which this legislation would help unlock for cities such as Hamilton and municipalities across Canada.

That is what coordinated action looks like to provide more affordable homes, with the federal government taking a leadership role and stepping up to the table with the housing accelerator, agreements, relief for first-time homebuyers and historic investments in housing and housing-enabling infrastructure.

It is important that we also be honest about how we arrived at this moment, and it is not just the opposition's talking points about the last 10 years. Over the last 25 years, Canada has experienced historically low interest rates. Housing increasingly became viewed as not simply shelter but an investment asset. That happened across multiple federal governments, from Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin through Stephen Harper and into recent years. Housing markets evolved in ways that encouraged commodification. Families found themselves bidding against investors, homes sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking, and real estate became tied to global capital flows, which was then accelerated even further with unprecedented inflation during COVID and the resulting increase in the cost of construction.

The current housing affordability crisis was not created in a single year by a single government. It reflects long-term structural pressures. At the same time, many of the core legislative tools that directly shape housing supply and affordability, for both ownership and rental housing, are strictly under provincial jurisdiction. In Ontario, the Planning Act, the Development Charges Act, the Residential Tenancies Act, the Landlord and Tenant Board and the Ontario Heritage Act are all provincial acts and provincial systems.

I also want to talk about supportive housing. When we talk about supportive housing, the wraparound supports that are needed include addictions treatment, mental health treatment and health care services. These are strictly within provincial jurisdiction as they are tied to provincial health care systems.

In Ontario, municipalities are often left carrying significant financial and service delivery responsibilities that have been downloaded from the province. As an example, Ontario Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, and broader provincial policy decisions downloaded about $55 million in annual expenditures to the City of Hamilton, which resulted in a 2.4% property tax increase each and every year for every single City of Hamilton property taxpayer. That is not a sustainable system. Costs cannot be continually downloaded onto municipalities.

I am optimistic that new partnerships through Build Canada Homes will come forward with the province of Ontario, and provinces across Canada, but we need all levels of government at the table to be successful, and we need to be working toward solutions that actually work. I know there is a genuine desire across the House to see more affordable housing units built, and that is something that all members share.

Build Canada Homes reflects that understanding. It is designed to streamline federal funding so that projects move faster. It seeks to scale up modular and prefabricated home construction to improve productivity. It emphasizes energy efficiency and quality, ensuring that the homes we build today are net zero and are reducing costs for families over the long term. Most importantly, it positions federal funding to be proactive, to unlock and leverage private investment, rather than simply react to market cycles.

I want to reflect on the position of the homebuilding industry in municipalities and communities as a major employer. Many of these builders are people I have worked with for years as chair of the planning committee. They provide thousands of jobs in Hamilton and drive billions of dollars in economic activity. Local homebuilders in Hamilton are our partners, and they actively deliver quality housing.

This growth drives the need for roads, transit, water and waste-water infrastructure. New housing construction enables infrastructure, and infrastructure enables more housing. When we build homes, we support thousands of direct and indirect jobs, from the skilled trades and suppliers to manufacturers and small businesses. Hamilton has the workforce and the expertise required to scale growth responsibly and efficiently.

It took nearly a quarter of a century of structural market shifts to create today's affordability challenges. They are not going to be solved overnight. With Build Canada Homes, supported by unprecedented federal housing investments and long-term infrastructure funding, we are aligning federal tools with municipal action, and we are working with provincial partners toward genuine, long-term solutions to housing affordability in Canada.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora—Kiiwetinoong, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the member opposite acknowledged there is a housing crisis. For 10 years, the Liberals have said everything is fine as costs drive people, particularly young people, out of the market. We know many young people are still living with their parents, unable to find a place to rent, let alone a place to buy, and start their family, but the Liberals are still talking about this issue as if there is nothing they can do about it and they are just bystanders in the process. The solution they are now bringing forward is yet another housing bureaucracy, which has been proven to not work time and time again.

There are tangible things the Liberals can do, like cutting taxes on new homes or stopping their inflationary spending that is driving up the cost of living. Why do they not look at those solutions rather than just creating another housing bureaucracy?

[John-Paul Danko, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I see the Build Canada Homes Crown corporation as similar to the approach that the City of Hamilton took with its housing secretariat. It would be an oversight agency, to make sure that $13 billion of funding is flowed through to the areas across the country where it is needed most. On top of that, there is another $51 billion in infrastructure, which would offset a lot of those costs that are going into development charges, allowing municipalities to further reduce development charges with the goal of a 50% reduction.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will refrain from talking about delays and bureaucracy although I really want to.

However, I want to ask my colleague from Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas whether he thinks this is a normal state of affairs. On January 21, 2026, the federal government finally signed an agreement with Quebec. However, this program, the Canada housing infrastructure fund, was actually announced two years earlier, on April 16, 2024. Is it normal for it to take such a long time, especially since the agreement amounts to $1 billion for Quebec out of the $6 billion set out in the fund? That represents 16.6% of the envelope, while Quebec has a demographic weight of 22%. Why the discrepancy?

I would be curious to know whether, if the situation were the same with Ontario, my colleague would be clapping his hands and saying that it is a great program and that we need to continue like this.

[John-Paul Danko, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I think the member opposite brings up an interesting point in the fact that we recognize the need to build more homes faster, and the goal was to double the speed of construction across Canada. My experience is that this takes a cultural shift. This needs to have the government get to a point of yes, and that is what Build Canada Homes would do. It would build a way to get those approvals done faster and get to yes, to get those houses built.

[Tim Watchorn, Liberal, Les Pays-d'en-Haut, QC]

Mr. Speaker, being an engineer and formerly the mayor of a small town, I think the more engineers we have in this place, the better off we are going to be.

I would like to have the member's comments on how Build Canada Homes would use prefab housing and modular housing to lower the costs for young families in all of the country.

[John-Paul Danko, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Speaker, coincidentally, during the constituency week, I toured a prefab housing factory in my riding that is gearing up for production. People there are really excited about the federal investment in prefabricated housing, because they see it as a way, once those factories are at scale, to produce much-higher-quality housing at a lower production rate versus doing it on site.

Most countries across the world, including in Europe, have gone in that direction. It is a tremendous opportunity not only for businesses and industry but also for homebuyers, at the end of the day.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, they are not even hiding it anymore. The previous member was asking about modular homebuilding. It is interesting that Brookfield just acquired a modular homebuilding operation. This is going to be the green slush fund all over again.

Would the member not agree that these big institutional investors in the Canadian housing market may be a big problem?

[John-Paul Danko, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I find it embarrassing that the members opposite continuously bring up conspiracy theories in the House of Commons, so I am not going to acknowledge the premise of that question. Suffice it to say, we are taking tangible action to build more housing that Canadians need.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today at second reading to Bill C-20, an act respecting the establishment of Build Canada Homes.

The housing crisis is hitting hard across the country. Too many families, too many young people, too many seniors are spending more than 30% of their income on housing. Too many people are priced out of the market. We have a collective responsibility to take ambitious, thorough and creative action.

Bill C-20 is a strategic response. By making Build Canada Homes a Crown corporation, we are giving it operational independence, the ability to take calculated risks and the governance necessary to achieve large-scale results, while remaining fully accountable to Parliament and Canadians.

Backed by an initial investment of $13 billion announced in the 2025 budget, Build Canada Homes will have the tools it needs to build more housing that is more affordable, more quickly. A clear definition of affordable housing is housing that does not exceed 30% of a household's pre-tax income, based on regional realities.

Beyond the structures and numbers, this bill is first and foremost a partnership project with the provinces and territories. Examples include the agreements reached between Quebec and Nova Scotia; the partnerships with indigenous communities, such as the agreement in principle signed between Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated; and the partnerships with municipalities. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has clearly welcomed this measure. Other examples include the partnerships with non-profit organizations, housing co-ops and private developers that are ready to build.

I would now like to talk about my riding of Sherbrooke. The housing crisis is very real in my community. Vacancy rates remain very low. Families, students and vulnerable people have serious needs.

Then again, Sherbrooke is also a laboratory for innovation. It is a vibrant university town, driven by the Université de Sherbrooke and the Sherbrooke CEGEP, where population growth is accompanied by a remarkable entrepreneurial spirit.

Our developers are not just builders. They are partners in social and economic development. They have been able to think up human-scale projects that are integrated into their neighbourhood, promoting diversity and architectural quality. A number of recent projects in Sherbrooke illustrate that creativity: mixed-income housing projects, which combine market-priced housing with affordable units; projects that incorporate community spaces and local services; initiatives that prioritize wood, energy efficiency and sustainable practices. That is exactly the spirit that Build Canada Homes wants to encourage.

Thanks to its new Crown corporation structure, Build Canada Homes will be able to make better use of public lands, particularly by integrating federal expertise in real estate development; deploy flexible financial tools to support complex arrangements; encourage modern construction methods, including prefabricated housing; and support non-commercial and community housing where the market alone is not enough.

In Sherbrooke, as elsewhere, we are seeing the emergence of a new generation of developers who understand that profitability and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive, but complementary. Bill C‑20 is creating the conditions needed to amplify that momentum.

This is not about replacing the market, but about complementing it, structuring it and stimulating it where the needs are greatest. The CMHC will continue to play its key role. Build Canada Homes will focus on persistent gaps, non-market housing, the strategic use of public lands and the structural transformation of our capacity to build.

We need a streamlined organization focused solely on delivering housing. We are already getting results. In just a few months, Build Canada Homes has launched its national portal, published its investment policy framework, issued requests for qualifications for thousands of units on federal lands and signed major memoranda of understanding. That is not theory. It is action.

The developers I meet in Sherbrooke talk about clear needs: predictability, quick decision-making and financial flexibility.

By becoming a Crown corporation, Build Canada Homes will be able to hold assets, invest directly, enter into complex transactions and act with the agility required in a rapidly changing market. This will enable us to support more meaningful projects, such as housing for women fleeing violence, adapted housing for people with disabilities, cooperative projects led by community-based organizations and residential complexes for seniors who wish to remain in their community. We will do this with local workers and businesses.

Our buy Canadian policy aims to mobilize public funds to strengthen our economic sovereignty. In an uncertain global context, investing in housing also means investing in our industrial capacity, our materials and our expertise.

In Sherbrooke, this means supporting entrepreneurs, engineers, construction workers and the entire regional supply chain. Housing is a key economic policy. Every home built generates activity, jobs and tax revenue. Every completed project contributes to the attractiveness of our region and the vitality of our neighbourhoods.

Bill C‑20 is a bold and necessary change in the way we plan, fund and build housing. It gives Build Canada Homes the independence and means to act. It recognizes that governments, municipalities, community organizations, co-ops and private developers have to work together to succeed. It taps into the very real energy I see in Sherbrooke, that ability to turn ambitious ideas into tangible projects for the good of families, now and into the future.

By passing Bill C‑20, we are sending a clear message: We take the housing crisis seriously, we trust our partners on the ground and we choose to act ambitiously for Sherbrooke, for Quebec and for all Canadians.

[Steven Bonk, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I am just wondering how the Liberal member opposite can square the circle. When we add more bureaucracy, we also add less productivity.

How are they expecting to get more houses built in a more efficient manner when they are increasing bureaucracy, which is the cause of the housing crisis in Canada?

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, by transforming Build Canada Homes into a Crown corporation, we are creating a specialized organization focused exclusively on housing construction. We are also giving it the full financial and legal independence it needs to act quickly, enter complex agreements and use public lands effectively.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Mr. Speaker, last week, I met with workers at a factory, a sorting facility, in my riding. The first issue they raised was housing. I was asked how we could ensure that housing gets built faster in my riding. It is a very broad question, but I would like to pose it to my colleague.

How will Build Canada Homes speed up housing construction?