Human Resources Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2026

[Ana Bailão]

Nunavut, with 750 homes, is the first one announced, and we have several others in the works.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

How many more?

[Ana Bailão]

We have several partners we are negotiating with right now.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

There are hundreds of first nations and many Métis communities across this country. There are many indigenous communities. You say that there's one, and then you can only say that there are several more. Are there seven or 10...?

[Ana Bailão]

It's a real priority for Build Canada Homes to work with our indigenous partners. That is why we have reached out not only to the housing providers in indigenous communities but also to the housing manufacturers. We want not only to create housing but also to create this as economic and community development.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you.

Build Canada Homes is now the fourth Liberal housing bureaucracy. Is this not an admission that the first three bureaucracies failed?

[Ana Bailão]

No. This is a new way of delivering the tools that we have. Canada Lands Company is coming to work under—

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

I have very little time left.

Is Build Canada Homes working with DND to build homes for those serving our country?

[Ana Bailão]

Yes, we are.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

What locations are they in?

[Ana Bailão]

We've just initiated the conversations on how we're going to deploy our resources with their needs and with the resources that currently exist within their department.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Goodridge.

Madame Desrochers, go ahead for six minutes please.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much to the witnesses for attending this afternoon's meeting in person as part of a very important conversation.

I find it very interesting to hear my colleagues across the table, when they've voted time and time again against any sort of support to solve the housing crisis. I would just remind everyone that we have been very clear that there is a housing crisis, and we have set up Build Canada Homes.

I really want to give the witnesses time to speak.

Having been involved in the bureaucracy for more than 20 years, I'm really impressed by the work that has been done so far to set up the agency. Well done! Let me start by saying congratulations.

Can you quickly tell us how stakeholders reacted when you announced the creation of Build Canada Homes?

I've asked quite a few questions on my end. I'd like you to tell me how the announcement of the investment policy framework was received by the private sector, developers, project implementers, municipalities and non-profit organizations, or NPOs, which are really working to create more affordable housing.

[Ana Bailão]

Thank you.

It was very well received. Many, including myself—I've been in private sector, non-profit and government on the other side—have advocated for this and have asked the federal government, for many years, to make public lands more available to build on and to have this coordinated with financial tools. This is exactly what Build Canada Homes is doing.

Also, it's to have an agency with flexibility in addressing the different housing needs and realities across the country. This is the flexibility we've been given to work with the local communities, with the provincial governments and with the municipalities and to respond to their needs, using flexibility to unlock projects, make projects work, get shovels in the ground and respond to the local needs.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you very much.

Can you talk about how the focus of Build Canada Homes on modernizing construction is going to help build faster, build more quickly and eventually, at term, reduce the cost of building?

[Ana Bailão]

We are investing in a part of the market all the way from transitional housing. This is housing that—let's be honest—the market does not produce. It's necessary to invest funds from the government in this area all the way to workforce housing, for which we start partnering with the private sector, and so on.

By doing this investment and making sure that we create a pipeline of modular housing, we are giving something to manufacturers that they desperately need, which is the certainty of the pipeline. Many who have been in consultations with the government have said that one of the biggest impediments to scale has been the certainty of supply.

Through an investment that needs to happen in affordable housing, in transitional housing and in workforce housing, the government is creating certainty in supply as well and working with them. Eventually, the market as a whole is going to benefit because we're going to have a more robust and more secure, scaled-up industry. That's how we are a catalyst for modern methods of construction.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you very much.

I will continue on the issue of investment in market housing compared with investment in non-market housing.

The opposition often tells us to stop getting involved in this area, to leave it up to the market to resolve the situation. Can you tell us how Build Canada Homes focusing on affordable housing as part of its mission will also actually help the market housing sector?

[Jean Lamirande, Senior Vice President, Policy and Operations, Build Canada Homes]

Thank you for your question.

First, we know that there is a major shortage of non-market housing in Canada. We are very limited in that regard, compared to international markets. There is definitely a need to be met. That's why we need an agency whose mission is to fund and develop affordable housing in the country. What we want at Build Canada Homes is not only to fund projects, but also to be a catalyst for the market. It's a matter of providing opportunities for partnerships between the private sector and the non-market sector to develop mixed-income housing. So we would like to provide affordable units together in order to create financial viability.

We also want to create a demand for modern construction methods and contribute to that demand in the context of new technologies. It's an attempt to promote the adoption of the general market.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Can you maybe tell us what you are proudest of over the last 100 days with Build Canada Homes?

[Ana Bailão]

I'm very proud of seeing the units arriving in Nunavut and of the partnership. We now have the housing authority and the Inuit with us at the table. It's a tripartite agreement. I'm proud of that. I'm proud of the agreements we've done with not only Nova Scotia but also the City of Halifax. We have the three orders of government for projects we're doing. In Ottawa we're developing not only on our lands but also with the City of Ottawa and on their list as well.

In 100 days, we were able to put a small, mighty team together and start getting these units out across the country...and go through hundreds of proposals that have come in.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you.

Ms. Larouche, you have six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I thank the witnesses for being here today to discuss this issue that is so crucial and important for the riding of Shefford.

Ms. Bailão and Mr. Lamirande, I obviously have a number of questions for you.

We see that there are various requests. In your opening remarks, you talked about Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Longueuil. I know that to address the housing issues….

In my region, the municipality of Granby is interested in Build Canada Homes' mission. There are small municipalities in the surrounding area that are wondering what their share will be, what will go to Granby or to rural municipalities. In short, for all these reasons, we see that Quebec knows the needs of these communities best. I think that's the concern.

An agreement on housing was recently concluded between Ottawa and Quebec. Wouldn't it have been simpler, and above all more effective, to transfer the money directly to Quebec, as the Bloc Québécois, the Government of Quebec and small municipalities are calling for, to ensure that those municipalities won't be forgotten by the federal government?

I would like to hear you on the importance of these transfers.

[Jean Lamirande]

Thank you very much for your question.

Actually, I'll start with Build Canada Homes' mandate, which is to use its financial tools in innovative ways to create affordable housing across the country.

In terms of transferring a fair share, the agency was not set up that way. We have the option to propose different types of funding, such as flexible funding, long-term and short-term funding, and funding over different terms. So we want to calibrate our offer according to the needs of the various communities. That is one of the reasons why we are in partnership with the Société d'habitation du Québec. We need to work together to establish a collaborative group, share our priorities and work together on these different joint projects to achieve our goals. That's what the announcement made over the past few weeks really meant.