A new federal agency called Build Canada Homes is being launched to “supercharge” the construction of
affordable housing
in cities like Ottawa, with a goal to fight the housing crisis by building them at scale.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Sunday that the federal government will provide an initial $13 billion to build more affordable housing projects across the country.
Six cities were initially selected as sites for the development of 4,000 factory-built homes on federal land, with the capacity to scale up to 45,000. Ottawa is one of them.
Around $1 billion will go toward transitional and supportive housing for low-income households in partnership with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities. Carney said these projects will try to address the
housing crisis in cities like Ottawa
.
Another $1.5 billion will go towards the Canada Rental Protection Fund, which will acquire at-risk community rental apartment buildings and help make them affordable for the long term. The fund was initially announced by former prime minister Justin Trudeau as part of Budget 2024.
Carney said the announcement is only the beginning of a series of commitments and promises to build more affordable homes for Canadians.
“Young Canadians are doing everything right. They’re studying hard, finding a job, saving hard. Yet for too many of them, rent is unaffordable and home ownership feels entirely out of reach. Across the country, it takes nearly four years for first-time home buyers to save for a down payment. In a market such as Toronto’s or Vancouver’s, it’s even longer,” he told reporters at Sunday’s news conference in Nepean.
“We’re in a housing crisis, and it’s going to take all hands on deck to get us out of it.”
Federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson said more non-market housing is needed to make home ownership attainable for Canadians.
“The housing crisis has deepened over several decades, impacting communities across our country. There’s not enough non-market housing to meet the needs. Home ownership has become unattainable for too many, and productivity in the sector is low, which is cramming up costs,” he said.
“We need a major shift to make safe, sustainable housing available to all Canadians. Solving a housing crisis means addressing the challenges in big cities and responding to the needs of rural and small communities as well. … Today, we are here to respond to these challenges and build at a scale not seen in generations.”
The announcement was a central piece of Carney’s election platform throughout the 2025 federal election — the prime minister promised to double the pace of housing construction and drive down the costs of homes, rent and mortgage payments across the country.
It comes as housing prices continue to rise across Ottawa. Data from The Canadian Real Estate Association suggests the median sales price for single-detached home in Ottawa creeped up to $822,500 in Q2 2025. The median prices for condos and townhouses were $404,250 and $580,000, respectively, during the same quarter.
Rental prices are also creeping upwards in the city
. According to a September 2025 rent report by Rentals.ca and Urbanation, the average advertised rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,997 a month. Advertised rents for two-bedroom apartments were averaging at $2,540 a month.
The announcement also comes a few days after
a new auditor general’s report
suggested bottlenecks at the City of Ottawa are slowing down the development system.
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe was enthusiastic about the announcement, saying the funding will increase the construction of affordable and supportive housing in Ottawa.
“Anything we can do to build more homes, to accelerate the construction of homes, to build more affordable and supportive homes, is very positive,” he told the Ottawa Citizen on Sunday after talking to Carney.
“I’m really looking forward to working with the federal government to make some things happen here in Ottawa. … There’s a number of different properties in our city where we can move quickly. I was just speaking with the prime minister about what we can do with federal land in our city, and there are a couple of exciting opportunities around that.”
Sutcliffe did not provide details about which sites the city is eyeing for development when asked.
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