Canada's federal government is turning to property technology (Proptech) to help solve the country's housing crisis. In the just-released 2024 Budget, new funding was announced to spur the development of new housing technologies and additional steps are on the way.
The government says that housing innovation means investing in ideas and technology like prefabricated housing factories, mass timber production, panelization, 3D printing and pre-approved housing design catalogues.
We are encouraged to see that proptech is featuring so predominantly in the federal government's new home construction initiatives as an integral part of the solution to the housing affordability issue that is plaguing Canadians.
Here is a look at the new measures.
Changing how Homes are Built in Canada
Budget 2024:
- Proposes $50 million over two years, beginning in 2024-2025, for Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen)—one of Canada’s Global Innovation Clusters—to launch a new Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund. NGen will seek to leverage an additional $150 million from the private sector, and other orders of government, to support a targeted $200 million investment in housing innovation in Canada. The first projects will aim to be announced this summer.
- Proposes $50 million over two years, beginning in 2024-2025, on a cash basis, through Canada’s Regional Development Agencies to support local innovative housing solutions across the country, such as designing and upscaling of modular homes, the use of 3D printing, mass timber construction and panelized construction. Any new innovative housing designs funded through the Regional Development Agencies and NGen will feed into the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s work on the Housing Design Catalogue. The first phase of the catalogue will be published in fall 2024.
- Announces that the National Research Council will identify ways to reduce duplication between factory inspections of modular home components and on-site building inspections, and support efforts to address regulatory barriers to help scale up factory-built housing across the country.
- Announces that the Apartment Construction Loan Program will earmark at least $500 million to homebuilders that use innovative construction techniques, such as modular housing, for new rental projects.
The federal government says that in the coming months, it will engage with housing, construction and building material sectors, along with labour unions, Indigenous housing experts and other relevant stakeholders, to co-develop a Canadian industrial strategy for homebuilding. The discussions will explore all essential inputs into building homes in Canada, including raw and manufactured materials, supply chains, and building techniques.
