Sept. 10, 2025
“We don’t want somebody to say, ‘Here’s a product, run it.’ We need to have input into what is that’s getting built,” says Graham Cubitt, chair of Hamilton is Home.
Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator file photo
A Hamilton coalition of non-profits says it can deliver 1,300 affordable units in three years with help from the federal government as it works on a renewed strategy to solve Canada’s housing crunch.
“It’s a game-changing strategy if it’s implemented correctly,” Graham Cubitt, chair of Hamilton is Home, said of the federal government’s opportunity to shift gears on affordable housing.
Hamilton is Home recently offered its feedback on the government’s budding Build Canada Homes plan in response to a “market sounding guide.”
During the spring election, the Liberals said Canada’s “most ambitious housing plan” since the Second World War would build nearly 500,000 homes a year.
Build Canada Homes, the name of the federal entity tasked with that goal, is to provide financing to builders of affordable homes and work on ways to improve industry productivity.
The six-storey CityHousing buildings at the Queenston Road traffic circle brought 82 new units into the mix as Hamilton struggles through an affordability crisis.
Cathie Coward/The Hamilton Spectator file photo
The “private market alone” can’t solve Canada’s housing affordability crunch, says the sounding guide, which is meant to offer an “initial vision” of the strategy.
“We need to dramatically scale up affordable housing to create a mix of homes that respond to needs of a diverse range of households, including low-income, while building strong, resilient communities, following the clear example of those countries that have been successful.”
That means striking partnerships with housing providers “focused on long-term affordability” and speeding up “timelines to bring federal lands to market.”
Build Canada Homes could “act as a developer in varying capacities, working with contractors, operators, investors and other developers to build housing, develop land, procure materials, share risks and provide expertise.”
Federal financing is crucial, but so is the role of non-profits in creating the new stock, says Cubitt, director of projects and development for Indwell.
“We don’t want somebody to say, ‘Here’s a product, run it.’ We need to have input into what it is that’s getting built.”
Some of that could be federally owned housing that non-profits operate, Cubitt suggests.
The deadline to provide feedback to the market sounding guide was Aug. 31.
In an emailed statement, Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada said federal officials are “engaging with partners and stakeholders to refine the approach to Build Canada Homes” but didn’t provide a timeline for that work.
“Once launched, Build Canada Homes will serve as a single window for affordable housing and innovation, partnering across sectors to finance and build large-scale projects.”
Build Canada Homes takes shape under Prime Minister Mark Carney as the country experiences a deep housing affordability crisis and severe slowdown in the market residential construction sector.
The pivot follows the previous Liberal government’s national housing strategy, a reinvigorated approach that non-profits welcomed after decades of federal retreat from social housing but still lamented as falling well short of needs.
In Hamilton, more than 6,000 households await subsidized housing and roughly 2,000 people are homeless.
Hamilton is Home, which formed in 2020, includes Indwell, CityHousing, Good Shepherd, Habitat for Humanity, Hamilton East Kiwanis Homes, Sacajawea Non-Profit Homes, Victoria Park Community Homes and YWCA Hamilton.
In its submission, the coalition notes that with federal support, its members have roughly 1,300 affordable units across 19 projects that could welcome tenants in three years.
All told, those projects, many of which have secured municipal contributions, would require about $330 million in federal financing and grants.
The coalition makes several recommendations for Build Canada Homes, including 50-year fixed, low-rate mortgages; grants prioritized for supportive, transitional and deeply affordable housing; “predictable” funding for operational costs; and a national repair and renewal fund to preserve existing stock.
The government must also maintain a gender focus on housing, YWCA Hamilton CEO Medora Uppal told The Spectator. “There’s more need and demand than we’re able to fill right now.”
Canada’s affordability crisis is not “just a social challenge,” but also a “pressing economic one,” the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association says in a prebudget submission that urges an expanded role for non-market operators.
“The lack of affordable, secure housing is holding back productivity, deepening inequality, and limiting people’s ability to fully participate in the economy.”
Community housing is “one of the most effective tools Canada can use to address this crisis,” but it amounts to a small percentage of the country’s stock.
That 3.5 per cent is “significantly lower than most of its G7 peers,” including the United Kingdom at 16.7 per cent and France at 14 per cent, notes a study Deloitte conducted for the association.
Increasing community housing’s share to seven per cent would add between $67 billion and $136 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030, the study concluded.