The federal government has been inundated with unfavourable news regarding housing. Despite a promise to double housing starts, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has forecasted that starts will decline for three consecutive years, and by 2027, will be 20 percent lower than they were in 2021. The news is particularly grim for the Greater Toronto Area, as new single-family home sales are down 71 percent from their 10-year averages, and new condominium sales are down a whopping 90 percent. To top it all off, newly released Statistics Canada data reveal that multi-family building permits were down over $1 billion in the second quarter of 2025. Even Alberta was not left unscathed, as single-family permits were down by $200 million.
In the backdrop of this doom and gloom, on Monday, the federal government released details on its signature Build Canada Homes plan. Described by the government as a plan to “build affordable homes, support builders with financing, and encourage better building methods,” the initiative accounts for half of all new government spending on housing. While highly ambitious, the plan will take too long to implement to address the immediate crisis, and the sheer number of moving parts risks the plan collapsing under its own weight.
