The federal housing minister’s office is reasserting Ottawa’s goal of doubling the pace of home construction — even though references to the Liberals’ hallmark affordability pledge were missing from Budget 2026.
asserted
references → reassert → Budget
The budget, which was tabled last week, dropped any mention of that original target, which was introduced in the Liberals’ 2025 election platform and repeated numerous times in that year’s budget.
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which → table → budget
Instead, the 511-page document outlines a new plan to triple the pace of non-market housing construction to 24,000 starts per year over the next decade.
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document → outline → decade
Non-market housing is usually more affordable and relies on government support to get built, but those homes account for only a small share of the overall number of units built in a year.
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homes → rely → year
The Canadian Press asked Housing Minister Gregor Robertson’s office whether Ottawa is abandoning its goal of doubling the annual pace of overall home building.
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Ottawa → ask → building
After repeated requests, his office pointed to a six-month-old statement given to The Canadian Press in May confirming that the government was still “working toward doubling homebuilding over the next decade.”
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government → repeat → decade
At the time, The Canadian Press had asked Robertson’s office about Ottawa’s commitment to the target because April’s spring economic update also lacked references to the goal.
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update → ask → goal
Parliamentary Budget Officer Annette Ryan pointed out then that while the government’s fiscal update included plenty of talk about affordability supports, “no specific targets or metrics for the pace of home building were provided.
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targets → point → building
”
Housing affordability has been a hot-button issue since the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw rents and resale prices rapidly escalate — boxing out many young Canadians trying to become homeowners.
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rents → see → Canadians
On Tuesday, Robertson’s office pointed to statistics showing national housing starts are up more than 20 per cent since the pre-pandemic period, rental construction is setting a record pace and rents have trended lower over the past few years.
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rents → point → years
“Since forming government, we launched an ambitious national plan to focus our efforts and spur co-ordinated action between governments, homebuilders, and communities.
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we → form → governments
We moved quickly to increase housing supply and improve access to safe, warm, affordable homes,” his office said.
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office → move → homes
MP Scott Aitchison, the Conservative housing critic, accused the Liberals of quietly dropping the promise to double home building and replacing it with the smaller non-market target.
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Aitchison → accuse → target
“Their announcements and promises have turned into another Liberal housing illusion.
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announcements → turn → illusion
Tripling the speed of slow is still unbearably slow and will not restore affordability,” Aitchison said in a statement to The Canadian Press.
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Aitchison → triple → Press
“Canadians need homes they can afford, not more failed Liberal targets and broken promises.”
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they → need → homes
In its fall housing supply report, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. wrote that the country is entering a “new phase” where slowing population growth is leading to more balance in Canadian rental markets.
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growth → write → markets
But the Crown corporation warned that the annual pace of housing starts is well short of levels needed to restore pre-pandemic affordability to the market in the next 10 years.
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pace → warn → years
The CMHC’s “business-as-usual” forecast sees Canada breaking ground on 231,000 homes per year, which it estimates would leave the market up to 238,000 homes short of affordable levels by 2036.
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it → see → 2036
Affordability will remain out of reach if Canada fails to take advantage of this moment to rapidly build housing supply ahead of the next surge in demand, the CMHC said.
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CMHC → remain → demand
Mike Moffatt, founding director of the Missing Middle Institute, said he always viewed the Liberals’ goal of doubling home building levels as a tough one to achieve.
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he → found → one
It would mean bringing the annual number of housing starts up to 500,000 in a given year, when Canada has so far topped out around 300,000.
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Canada → mean → 300,000
Moffatt said the target may also be “excessive,” given that the government can effectively control the pace of population growth, which dictates how much supply is really needed to serve the Canadian market.
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supply → say → market
The headline number also doesn’t specify what kinds of homes Canada needs to build to actually meet Canadians’ needs, he added.
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he → specify → needs
“I never loved the target.
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I → love → target
I felt it was probably too high and missed some important nuances,” Moffatt said.
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Moffatt → feel → nuances
The federal Liberals have instituted a number of policy changes aimed at stimulating home building since Prime Minister Mark Carney came to office in March 2025.
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Carney → institute → March
They include waiving the GST on many newly built homes, establishing new funds for local infrastructure and setting up Build Canada Homes, a new Crown corporation tasked with reversing years of lagging non-market home construction.
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They → include → construction
Budget 2026 proposed giving another $13 billion over 10 years to Build Canada Homes and pledged tens of billions of dollars over the coming decade to an effort to end homelessness across the country.
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Budget → propose → country
Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, also said he considered Ottawa’s original home building goal “more aspirational than realistic.”
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goal → say → University
“You can set a target, but do you have the capacity to meet those targets?” he said.
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he → set → targets
Yan said policies like the Housing Accelerator Fund and the Apartment Construction Loan Program have been “fairly successful” in getting more homes built, particularly on the rental side.
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homes → say → side
The Housing Accelerator Fund, which ties federal cash to pro-development policy changes, was one of Ottawa’s tools for addressing the fact that barriers to building often lie at the municipal level.
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barriers → tie → level
Many of the other levers for stimulating home building are also not directly in the federal government’s hands.
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Many → stimulate → hands
Building material costs have grown in response to U.S. tariffs, while a soft labour market is dampening buyer demand for new homes.
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market → grow → homes
Interest rates — a critical factor for developers weighing the business case for a new build — are set independently by the Bank of Canada.
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rates → weigh → Canada
The central bank delivered its first rate hike in more than three years last month and signalled more could be on the way.
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more → deliver → way
Moffatt warned that many of the constraints holding back broader construction apply to social housing as well.
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many → warn → housing
There’s no non-market lumber, there’s no non market electrician,” he said.
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he → ’ → ?
“A non-market social housing target is more in the government’s control, but it’s hardly a slam dunk.”
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it → ’ → control
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