Federal budget focuses on non-market housing while CMHC says Canada still needs 417,000 to 469,000 starts a year
Thunder Bay – National News – The federal government says it is still working to double Canada’s pace of home construction even though Budget 2026 no longer states that target or gives a yearly goal for overall housing starts.
The shift matters because housing supply is central to Ottawa’s promise to restore affordability. The Liberal platform in 2025 called for almost 500,000 new homes a year over the next decade. The new budget instead sets a narrower goal: triple non-market housing construction to 24,000 starts a year.
Non-market homes generally rely on public or non-profit support and are intended to remain more affordable. They are important for people priced out of private housing, but they make up only a small part of all construction.
The federal opposition hit hard on the Carney Government over the real numbers of homes started as opposed to promises of homes built.
- The Claim: The Housing Minister stated that 19,000 affordable homes were built under the federal Build Canada Homes initiative.
- The Reality: Fact-checkers (including CBC analyses) found that the claim conflates planned or announced units with actual progress. Only about 2,000 homes have actually broken ground or been started under the initiative, with projections targeting roughly 26,000 homes over a five-year horizon.
The Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre posted this Youtube video yesterday:
Housing Minister Gregor Robertson’s office says that the government remained committed to doubling homebuilding. The office pointed to a statement first provided in May, rather than a new numerical path or annual milestones.
It also said national housing starts were more than 20 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, rental construction was at record levels and rents had eased in recent years.
CMHC warns the gap remains large
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. estimates current trends would produce about 231,000 housing starts a year. Its fall supply report says 417,000 to 469,000 homes would be needed annually through 2036 to restore affordability to 2019 levels.
That leaves a yearly supply gap of 187,000 to 238,000 homes. CMHC said the national gap was broadly unchanged from last year, even as conditions varied sharply by city. The gap narrowed in Toronto and Calgary, stayed the same in Vancouver and widened in Ottawa and Montreal.
The Crown corporation also warned that slower construction during the current housing-market downturn could create a deeper shortage when demand returns.
Budget puts more money behind specific programs
Budget 2026 proposes nearly $45 billion in housing measures over 11 years. That includes another $13 billion over 10 years for Build Canada Homes, the federal agency created to expand non-market and affordable construction. The plan also calls for work with provinces and municipalities to cut fees, taxes, zoning barriers and approval delays.
Conservative housing critic Scott Aitchison accused the government of quietly replacing the broader promise with a much smaller target. Housing researchers interviewed by The Canadian Press said the earlier 500,000-home figure was difficult to reach and did not specify which types of homes were needed in each market.
The core accountability question is now whether Ottawa will publish measurable annual goals for total starts, not only spending commitments and a non-market target. Without that, Canadians cannot easily compare the government’s stated ambition with actual construction.
Statistics Canada is scheduled to release September building-permit data Thursday morning. Permits are an early indicator of possible construction, but they are not the same as housing starts or completed homes.
