Carney’s Housing Fix Has Broken Ground on About 2,000 Homes in a Year

Mark Carney campaigned as the man who would finally get Canada building again. His big idea was Build Canada Homes, a federal agency that would act as a developer, cut through red tape and get affordable homes built fast.

A year later, the results are in. They are embarrassing.

The Scoreboard After Year One

According to CBC News, Build Canada Homes has committed to supporting roughly 19,000 affordable units across the country. Only about 2,000 of them are actually being built.

The agency’s own CEO, Ana Bailão, put the figure at 2,300 under construction when she spoke at the Empire Club of Canada, as reported by the Financial Post. Asked whether she was satisfied with the results, she answered plainly: “the answer is no.”

When the person running the program says she isn’t satisfied, Canadians shouldn’t be either.

Think about what that means. Roughly one in eight of the homes Ottawa has “committed” to is actually under construction. The rest are press releases, partnership signings and announcements with a minister standing in front of a backdrop.

Even the Plan Was Too Small

The slow start would be easier to forgive if the plan itself were big enough. It isn’t.

Last December, the Parliamentary Budget Officer looked at the money behind Build Canada Homes and concluded it would add about 26,000 units over five years. The PBO called that “only a modest amount,” a 2.1% increase in housing completions over what would have been built anyway.

Compare that with what the country actually needs. The CMHC now says Canada must build roughly 417,000 to 469,000 homes every year until 2036 to get back to 2019 affordability, as CBC reported. Housing starts have been stuck around 250,000 a year. CMHC’s chief economist says we still need to keep doubling that pace.

During the election, the Liberals promised 500,000 new homes a year, as Canadian Affairs noted. Yet the PBO found the government “has not yet laid out an overall plan to achieve this goal.”

A flagship program that delivers a few thousand homes a year against a need of hundreds of thousands is not a housing strategy. It is a branding exercise.

Housing Spending Is Actually Falling

Here is the part Ottawa doesn’t put in the announcements.

The same PBO report found that planned federal spending on housing programs is set to fall by 56%, from $9.8 billion in 2025–26 to $4.3 billion in 2028–29, even after counting the new money for Build Canada Homes. CBC’s coverage of that report put it bluntly: spending on housing programs will be cut by more than half over four years.

The PBO also warned that support is shifting away from programs that help people right now, like the Canada Housing Benefit and funding for existing social housing.

So the government cut one hand while waving the other. It launched a shiny new agency with a modest budget, while overall housing support shrinks underneath it.

No Targets, No Accountability

Ask a simple question: how will we know if Build Canada Homes is working?

Ottawa doesn’t seem to know either. Economist Mike Moffatt of the Missing Middle Initiative told Canadian Affairs: “There doesn’t seem to be any targets, any key performance indicators.” He warned that without a clear definition of success, the agency “could lead to some very bad investment decisions.”

University of Toronto housing researcher Carolyn Whitzman was harsher. She called the agency’s founding legislation “haiku-ish” and said Build Canada Homes “simply isn’t ambitious enough.” Her verdict on Ottawa: “The federal government is great at talking the talk, and it’s absolutely dreadful at walking the walk.”

Transparency isn’t much better. When Ottawa announced a deal with Alberta for at least 1,460 affordable homes, CBC asked for basic details. Build Canada Homes said it was “not in a position to share details regarding individual projects under consideration at this time,” including location, affordability mix or timelines.

Taxpayers are funding this. They deserve to know where the homes are and when they’ll be finished.

The Excuses Are Wearing Thin

Supporters will say it’s early. The agency only became a Crown corporation in July, and much of the year went to land transfers and intergovernmental deals.

Fair enough, but that’s exactly the problem. Carney promised urgency. A housing crisis does not pause while Ottawa signs memoranda and sets up implementation tables. Bailão herself admitted the bottleneck is “not being aligned between governments” and “taking too long” on permits. Those are the very problems a federal housing agency was supposed to solve.

As CIBC economist Benjamin Tal said at the same event: “We have been failing young Canadians.”

He’s right. Young Canadians have been told for years that help is coming. They’ve heard the targets, the slogans and the launches. What they need are keys to homes they can afford.

The Bottom Line

Build Canada Homes was Mark Carney’s answer to the housing crisis. After a year, it has broken ground on about 2,000 homes. The budget watchdog’s estimate of its five-year output is a rounding error next to the country’s needs, and federal housing spending is falling by more than half.

Carney promised to get Canada building. On housing, Canadians are still waiting.

Hold your MP to account. Ask them one question: how many Build Canada Homes units in our community are actually under construction, and when will families be able to move in?

Sources:
– CBC News: Build Canada Homes was launched a year ago. Can it scale up fast enough to meet demand? (Oct. 5, 2026)
– Financial Post: Red tape, lack of coordination delay Ottawa’s affordable housing push (Oct. 2, 2026)
– Parliamentary Budget Officer: Build Canada Homes forecast to build 26,000 units (Dec. 2, 2025)
– CBC News: Feds to reduce housing spending by half, build only 26,000 homes: Budget watchdog
– Canadian Affairs: Build Canada Homes’ vague goals concern experts (Aug. 12, 2026)