Evan Siddall named inaugural chair of Build Canada Homes
The agency has since committed to nearly 17,000 units through 17 partnerships nationally, with more than 1,900 homes already under construction, according to government figures.
Execution now in focus
BCH’s mandate centres on non-market housing, channelling contributions, loans, and loan guarantees to non-profits, co-operatives, and Indigenous housing providers. Its stated goal of doubling Canada’s homebuilding rate and reducing homelessness has attracted scrutiny in equal measure.
Early questions about the agency’s strategic direction and accountability were raised by the Fraser Institute, whose researchers argued that BCH’s overlapping mandates risk undermining cost-effective affordable delivery at the scale the housing crisis demands.
That execution pressure is acute. Canada’s housing starts trended at an annualised pace of 248,123 units through the first half of 2026. That’s less than 58% of the 430,000 to 480,000 units CMHC estimates the country needs annually to restore affordability.
An economist previously cautioned that “we have yet to see the full strategic vision of what that looks like,” noting that major policy shifts of this scale take years to produce measurable results.
