Prime Minister Carney says he wants to do things previously considered impossible in Canada when it comes to housing construction. Significant new loans and grants for PRE-FAB and AFFORDABLE home builders. A new building entity called “Build Canada Homes.” New ways to help “the market build better.” - ThreadSky

brenttoderian.bsky.social • 7 days ago

Prime Minister Carney says he wants to do things previously considered impossible in Canada when it comes to housing construction. Significant new loans and grants for PRE-FAB and AFFORDABLE home builders. A new building entity called “Build Canada Homes.” New ways to help “the market build better.”

Comments

aidancscott.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yes!

For better or worse, old post-war policies and laws seem popular among politicians.

Do you think we would see a contemporary version of the "Vancouver special?"

westseattlebikeblg.bsky.social•7 days ago

A prefab company I follow out of Vancouver Island just threw in the towel on building inside Canadian cities because of the onerous permitting process. I hope Carney can make reform happen.

johnquissy.bsky.social•6 days ago

I don't particularly know this company, but rural communities follow the exact same building codes as urban areas and, in BC at least, it's not legal for any local government to deviate from those requirements. The permitting process may differ but the technical code requirements don't.

johnquissy.bsky.social•6 days ago

And that being said; the compliance path for prefabricated components isn't particularly easy or clear; and one would hope performance based codes would/should help but that doesn't seem to be their experience

nobodiesgnome.bsky.social•6 days ago

While the building codes would be the same local municipalities can set their own energy code/paths which can add significant costs to construction.
This is for Victoria, lotus land in Canada 🤷‍♂️

johnquissy.bsky.social•6 days ago

I get that step code can be expensive but this company doesn't seem to say it was the cost - but the post seems to conflate technical building code requirements with "red tape"-it's a bit concerning that they are suggesting that remote areas don't also have the same building codes as cities

nobodiesgnome.bsky.social•6 days ago

We have a “national” building code, but municipalities can add their own additional requirements.
Of course you can argue these points of contention, but my experience is if you plan a career in your trade in the same town you probably shouldn’t as they can (and sometimes do) make work harder.

johnquissy.bsky.social•6 days ago

They actually can't; they can only follow the bc building code (and opt for one of the various steps of the step code). The building act forbids local governments from veering away from the code, but in practice many building inspectors add their own spin on how the code is applied.

peoplematter.bsky.social•6 days ago

Not in BC. The NDP has blocked home builders. They haven't changed zoning in the regional districts either. So, there are barriers everywhere plus outrageously expensive in BC

therobvoigt.bsky.social•7 days ago

As a planner for 28yrs I conclude that our profession is broken in too many ways So I'm suggesting a motto for the pervasive negligence, ill-informed actions, uncuriousness, scapegoating & laziness:
"Ignorantia cognitionis
Mora super omnia"
"Ignorance over knowledge
Delay above all"
-Prove me wrong

kdbnicol.bsky.social•4 days ago

I have noticed there’s a solid reluctance to do anything more than just go with the flow and do what’s been done.
But.
There’s municipalities which are trying new things and getting some traction. And they could use some encouragement.

kdbnicol.bsky.social•4 days ago

At the same time, they should push harder for their best work.
Not doing so is an abrogation of professional responsibility.

ellenhokanson.bsky.social•7 days ago

I don’t know about Canadian law but we here in the US could have a lot more manufactured homes cheaper if ‘mobile homes’ weren’t required to be mobile.

orionkidder.bsky.social•6 days ago

The man's a neoliberal, but a good idea is a good idea!

Build, baby, build!

urbanturtle.bsky.social•6 days ago

So again, it's all about cost-cutting the actual construction itself, and never about zoning reform or addressing nonsense land values? Why do neolibs always insist you can solve a housing crisis with more grants for developers and landlords, and whacky construction techniques like 3d printing?

kbee31.bsky.social•7 days ago

"help the market build better"? Isn't the most reliable way to ensure there is affordable housing for people in the lowest income brackets to have government & nonprofits manage social housing? Not that they manage it well but better than leaving it to market which is always extracting profit.

paulfish.bsky.social•7 days ago

Both are effective. We have good evidence that new market rate gets middle income people to move out of already affordable housing leaving room for more low income folks. /1
https://research.upjohn.org/up_workingpapers/307/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119022001048

paulfish.bsky.social•7 days ago

One key advantage of market improvements is its often cheap and fast. Getting existing builders to do 50% more volume is often faster:easier than building a large state homebuilders from scratch.

The policy looks to be to do both which is IMO correct. Canada needs every unit so try it all at once.

sandrallester.bsky.social•6 days ago

We need zoning reform to allow for the missing middle housing to be built anywhere, as default.

sandrallester.bsky.social•6 days ago

Single stair exits also help fit more units and increase density on tight urban sites.

sandrallester.bsky.social•6 days ago

We also have to force the market to build to Passivhaus (or B.C. Step Code 4) levels of performance, to achieve an 80% reduction in heating load, at very little additional cost.

sandrallester.bsky.social•6 days ago

Locally-made carbon-sequestering building materials should be used to reduce the carbon impact of new housing from day one.

sandrallester.bsky.social•6 days ago

Our homes need to be designed so that they have warm interior surfaces—that means robust levels of insulation, and no thermal bridging. This prevents toxic mould from growing.

sandrallester.bsky.social•6 days ago

I’d like to see a summary of learnings from the Federal Housing Accelerator Fund rounds.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply